We are planning to open 25 stores in this particular format including in Mumbai. We have received tremendous response to this new format of our business," Sunay Bhasin, marketing head, Pizza Hut India, informed media. The company currently operates 10 such stores in Delhi, Bangalore, Agra and Puducherry (Pondicherry).
"We have seen a growth of nearly 20-to-25 percent in this format. The expansion will also help us in diversifying our offering and adding a more value-added service," said Bhasin.
The company, which came into India in 1996, plans to take its casual dining restaurant presence from 131 to 250 stores by 2015. According to a report in ET "Our plan is to have a presence of about 250 stores by 2015 from the current 131 stores that we have in 34 cities." Bhasin says that the major thrust areas for expansion would be big cities with the typical franchise model.
India is one of the fastest growing branded restaurants markets in the world, where the organised eating-out market is estimated at US $ 2 billion and growing at a CAGR of 25%.
From pizzas to casual find dining restaurants with wine and beer, Pizza Hut has had an interesting progression and indigenization of its menu. Elaborating on the 15 year evolution Bhasin reportedly says, "When we began our journey in India 15 years back, we were known for our Pizzas, garlic breads and masala lemonades. But the journey we embarked on to become an affordable casual dining restaurant, has driven us to diversify our offerings. Today on offer is a wide array of dishes to choose from, pastas, skewers, shakes, mojitos, salads, gelatos, cheesecakes, over and above pizzas that we known for."
Casual dining restaurants like Pizza Hut, Narula’s and Cafés like Barista are relatively new in selling wine and beer and the response has been lukewarm so far. But the future should hold a lot of promise especially where food is the primary product- pizzas, pastas and burgers make an excellent choice for wine to go with them and it is a matter of time that the concept will become popular even though there are logistics problems typically for such chains due to the legal drinking age for the customers as well as servers.
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