?Westlife Development reports 7.4% increase in net sales in Q4

Westlife Foodworld Ltd, owner and operator of McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India, has announced the elevation of Saurabh Kalra as the Managing Director (MD) of its subsidiary.

Prior to this, Saurabh was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the organization.

In this new role, Saurabh will focus on the overall business strategy and growth opportunities, driving the company’s long-term success while continuing to remain deeply involved in day-to-day operations.

“We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Saurabh on his well-deserved promotion. It gives me great pride to see that, in keeping with our people philosophy, we have been able to develop careers and appoint someone internally for this critical role. Over the years, Saurabh has evolved as an incredible leader and a mentor within the organization. He is a motivated and passionate individual who always seeks to innovate and take on new challenges and we are confident that he will continue to lead Westlife to newer highs with his remarkable vision and strategy,” shared Amit Jatia, Vice Chairman, Westlife Foodworld.

Kalra is replacing Smita Jatia, who has served as the organization's Managing Director since 2010 and played an instrumental role in the growth trajectory of the company, driving innovative formats, and most importantly was instrumental in reviving the brand during and after COVID.

“Smita would continue to be an active member of the Westlife board. We are confident that these moves will further strengthen McDonald's India (W&S) as the most loved and preferred QSR chain in the country,” added Jatia.

Saurabh brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge gathered over his twenty-year-plus career with Westlife. Having started his career as a Management Trainee in 2002, Saurabh became one of the youngest Restaurant Managers. Over the years, he straddled roles across operations, training, real estate, strategy, and development functions, gradually and successfully transitioning from a restaurant-facing role to a CXO role. Saurabh was instrumental in launching and growing McCafé and the Experience of The Future (EOTF) restaurants in India. He was also an integral part of the team that established the McDonald's brand in South India.

Saurabh was also an active participant in crafting the 2022 Vision and has been playing a key role in operationalizing Vision 2027, along with Akshay Jatia, Executive Director, Westlife Foodworld.

“I am thrilled and humbled to be given the opportunity to lead the McDonald's India (W&S) family as MD. It is an exciting time for us as we continue to drive our growth agenda and build on the iconic brand's legacy. I am confident that I will leverage my commitment and industry experience to deliver best-in-class performance across business parameters that will enable us to take Westlife Foodworld to even greater heights,” added Saurabh Kalra, Managing Director, Westlife Foodworld.

Westlife Foodworld Ltd. (formerly Westlife Development Ltd.) – owner and operator of McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India, has appointed  Saurabh Bhudolia as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Saurabh will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of financial management and strategy to ensure the company’s financial success.

In his new role, Saurabh will report to Akshay Jatia, Executive Director, and will work closely with the leadership team to devise effective financial strategies for Westlife Foodworld.

“We are delighted to welcome Saurabh Bhudolia as the new Chief Financial Officer.  His industry experience and knowledge will be of great value in advancing our strategic vision and achieving our business objectives. I am confident that he will play a key role in Westlife Foodworld’s growth and wish him success in his new position,” shared Amit Jatia, Vice Chairman, Westlife Foodworld Ltd.

Prior to joining Westlife Foodworld, Saurabh held CFO positions at Lux Industries and Future Group India. He has also worked with organizations such as Tata Steel, Mondelez International, and Sula Vineyards in his professional journey of over 15 years.

“I am honoured to be a part of the Westlife Foodworld family. I am looking forward to leveraging my experience to provide financial guidance, ensure compliance and maximize profitability. I am positive that my area of expertise and skill sets will enable Westlife Foodworld to soar to greater heights,” added Saurabh Bhudolia, CFO, Westlife Foodworld.

Saurabh is a Chartered Accountant (CA) with experience in the manufacturing industries (Steel, FMCG, Beverage, and Retail) in India, New Zealand, and Singapore. In these many years, his area of expertise has been Accounting, Budgeting & Costing, Treasury, Taxation, Project Finance, Financial Reporting, Business Partnering, M&A, IR, Funding, and Auditing.

Owner and operator of the master franchisee of McDonald’s® restaurants in West & South India, Westlife Development Limited has appointed Akshay Jatia as Executive Director of the organization.

In his new role, Akshay will now lead the overall business strategy to further strengthen McDonald’s as the food-tech destination of choice across platforms in West and South India. 

He will be responsible for the long-term strategy for Westlife as well as the supervision and management of the company's affairs.

“Akshay is a strong, dynamic, and values-driven leader and I would like to congratulate him on his promotion. In the past, he has successfully led the omnichannel strategy and built the delivery system from inception besides spearheading several tech innovations for McDonald’s which has made the brand progressive and relevant for our ever-evolving consumers,” shared Amit Jatia, Vice Chairman – Westlife Development Ltd.

Akshay joined McDonald’s in 2015, and over the last seven years, has worked cross-functionally to drive strategy, operations, marketing, and IT and synergized them to grow the brand. He has successfully led many business-critical projects.

“I am honoured to have been given this new role at the company, and I look forward to taking the vision of growing McDonald’s into a brand that is equal parts food and technology to the next level. With the team, my goal is to build a transformational business driven by technology and operational excellence and continue serving millions of customers across West and South India more effectively,” added Akshay who has been instrumental in setting up the digital team and spearheading many digital innovations across the business.

He played a key role in growing and consolidating the company’s brand extensions - McDelivery, McCafé, and McBreakfast. Under his leadership, McDonald’s became the first QSR to launch its own delivery app – McDelivery. Further, it revolutionized the customer experience for the QSR industry with the launch of its ‘Experience of The Future’ (EOTF) restaurants.

Akshay is an alumnus of New York University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree with majors in Finance and International Business from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Owners of Hardcastle Restuarants, Westlife Development Ltd on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit at Rs 15.06 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2022.

The Master Franchisee of McDonald's restaurants for west and south India, it had posted a net loss of Rs 6.03 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago, Westlife Development Ltd said in a BSE filing.

Its sales were up 26.50 per cent to Rs 443.90 crore during the period under review as against Rs 350.89 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

"Withstanding the challenges of inflationary pressures and the Omicron wave, the company's operating EBIDTA grew by 46 per cent Y-O-Y to 16 per cent. Its Same-Store Sales Growth (SSSG) for the quarter stood at 23 per cent Y-O-Y," shared the release.

Westlife Development's total operating costs and expenses were at Rs 353.48 crore, up 25.53 per cent in Q4 FY 2021-22, as against Rs 281.59 crore in the year-ago period.

"Our strong performance was underpinned by our omni-channel strategy, menu innovations and cost optimisation practices, and was a testament to our scale and agility. The playbook we put together in the last two years has made our business resilient and we aim to continue delivering seamless customer experiences while leveraging our momentum to drive long-term, sustainable growth for all our stakeholders,” shared Amit Jatia, Vice Chairfman, Westlife Development Ltd.

In the fourth quarter of FY22, the company opened 12 new McDonald's restaurants. With this, Westlife now has a total of 326 restaurants and 262 McCafe across 47 cities.

Westlife Development Limited owner of Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. ("HRPL"), the master franchisee of McDonald's restaurants in West and South India announced its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

The results were taken on record by the Board of Directors at a meeting held today.

The Company recorded a strong quarter with robust performance across all operating metrics, setting new benchmarks for the business.

It also clocked an all-time high revenue of ₹4768.3 million, a significant 46.7% jump YoY. This was driven by growth across both dine-in and convenience channels that grew by a solid 39% and 55% respectively. The Company’s Same Store Sales Growth for the quarter stood at 44% YoY.

The Company continued to execute its cost rationalization strategies. Despite all inflationary pressures, it clocked a robust gross margin of 66.4% - an improvement of 48.2% YoY. The strong topline ensured a robust 60.3% YoY jump in the Restaurant Operating Margins that stood at 22.6%.

It also reported a high EBITDA of INR 836.2 million, a 61.0% increment YoY, taking the EBITDA margin to a new high. As a result, the Company clocked an all-time high PAT of INR 208.2 million.

McDonald’s also added 8 new stores taking the total store count to 316 restaurants across 44 cities. Close to 80% of its restaurants have McCafé now while over 100 of them are ‘Experience of The Future’ (EOTF) restaurants.

In October 2021, the Company announced that it will invest INR 800-1000 crores over the next 3-5 years to take its restaurant count to over 500, convert all its restaurants to EOTF, improve its digital prowess, and develop cutting-edge menus.

“We are quite pleased with our performance in the quarter. What is especially noteworthy is that this has come in a quarter that continued to see certain COVID-led restrictions,” shared Amit Jatia, Vice-Chairman of Westlife Development Limited by adding that this is a testimony to their robust strategy that is going to hold them in strong stead through the volatilities of the future.

This quarter also marked 25 years of McDonald’s operations in India. Westlife Development celebrated this milestone with the launch of 25 Acts of Happy campaign - 25 big and small initiatives to bring a smile to the faces of its customers and employees.

Owner of Hardcastle Restaurants, Westlife Development Limited announced unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2021. The results were taken on record by the Board of Directors at a meeting held today.

The master franchisee of McDonald's restaurants in West and South India, it clocked a robust revenue growth of 176% YoY at Rs. 2591.6 mn.

Business initiatives undertaken across the board ensured that WDL delivered strong same-store sales growth (SSSG) of 183% for the quarter. In the month of July 2021, the company’s revenues recovered to 100% of July ‘19 levels in all markets except Maharashtra that continued to be under strict regulatory restrictions.

“Our strong performance is a testimony to the commitment and conviction of our teams. Despite all challenges, the business is firmly back on track. Revenues are building strongly, brand trust is rising consistently and our convenience channels are accelerating at an unprecedented pace. We believe that challenges of the last one year are behind us and we are excited to chart the next phase of growth,” shared Amit Jatia, Vice-Chairman of Westlife Development Limited.

The revenue recovery was strongly driven by the Company’s convenience channels of delivery, Drive-Thru and On-the-Go that continued to perform strongly even as dine-in restrictions eased in the month of June.

Overall convenience sales jumped over 202% YoY. Revenue from Drive-Thrus that is the Company’s key competitive advantage, grew by 115% YoY and 52% QoQ.

As per release, McDelivery grew close to 200% YoY, achieving its highest ever revenue numbers in June 2021. Even as dine-in restrictions eased in the month of June 2021, the Company did not see a drop in off-premise sales.

The Company also charted an improvement of 204% in its Restaurant Operating Margins that stood at 9.8% for the quarter. Consequently, its Operating EBITDA showed a 100% improvement over same quarter last year. 

It also opened 7 new McCafé and 11 new Experience of the Future restaurants in this quarter. The total number of restaurants at the end of Q1 FY22 is 305 with a number of new restaurants being underground-break.

Westlife Development has launched its first McDonald's restaurant in Nagpur.

Located on the 3rd floor of Trilium Mall, the new restaurant is spread across 2,984 sq ft. The restaurant includes a designated party area for celebrating big and small moments in life. It can accommodate 150 guests at a time.

Hardcastle Restaurants (HRPL), a master franchisee of McDonald's Corporation, operates McDonald's restaurants in West and South India. The new restaurant is HRPL's 42nd outlet in Maharashtra and its 182nd restaurant in West India.

Saurabh Kalra, Senior Director (Business Operations & Strategy), McDonald's India (West and South), said, “Nagpur is one of the biggest cities in Maharashtra, an education hub and a melting pot of commerce and culture. We are thrilled to bring McDonald's here, and this marks a huge milestone in our growth journey.”

“We are confident that the people of Nagpur will love our delicious and wholesome menu offerings and the unique in-store experience. We look forward to serving Nagpur-ites and increasing our footprint in the city,” he added.

McDonald's Nagpur will feature bestselling products like McAloo Tikki, Maharaja Mac, Pizza McPuff among others. Recently, McDonald's has launched rice bowls which are the perfect pick for a quick yet satisfying meal.