Ajay Kaul, chief executive officer, Jubilant Foodworks, says his company, the franchisee for Dunkin Donuts in India, proposes to add eight stores to its current tally of 10 this financial year. “By the end of four years, we propose to take our store count to 80-100,” says Kaul, whose company is also the master franchisee for Domino’s in the Indian subcontinent.
Launched eighteen months ago in India, Dunkin has, so far, marked its presence in the Delhi National Capital Region and Chandigarh. While Kaul declines to indicate when the brand would expand to markets such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, those in the know say this is likely to happen soon, as the retailer is scouting for real estate in these cities.
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| Scaling up | ||
| Brand | Current Store count | Future Tally |
| Mad Over Donuts | 46 | 150 (in three years) |
| Dunkin Donuts | 10 | 100 (in four years) |
| Krispy Kreme | 5 | 115 (in five years) |
| Source: Company | ||
The rush is not without reason. Dunkin’s arch rival, Krispy Kreme, which stepped into India in February this year, is expected to enter Delhi by December this year, according to Peter King, vice-president (Asia-Pacific), Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation. “Asia-Pacific is a key market for us, with over 200 stores out of Krispy Kreme’s 700-odd outlets in this region alone. We are also adding countries quickly here. We are already present in nine markets in Asia-Pacific and we’ll step into Singapore and Taiwan in the next two months,” he says.
Krispy Kreme has five stores in Bangalore.
In India, Krispy Kreme’s operations have been franchised to two companies — Landmark Group for the western and southern regions and Bedrock for the North. King says he is scouting for a franchisee for the eastern zone. “Our search is on,” he says. “In the next five years, we propose to add about 80 stores in the South and West and 35 in the North. That would mean our store count would easily cross the 100-mark.”
Mad Over Donuts, the third company in this segment, proposes to add 100 stores to its current tally of 46 in the next three years, according to executives of the Mumbai-based Mirah Group, which co-owns the chain along with Singapore-based Pragati Ventures. Plans were afoot to expand into cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata in the next six months, the executives said.
The chain is already present in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Bangalore. Company executives say Mad Over Donuts would first consider expanding in tier-I and II cities, before targeting smaller towns.
According to a recent report by brokerage CLSA, in India, the proportion of sales generated through chain formats is less than 10 per cent, lower than in markets such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Quick-service restaurants account for about 15 per cent of the $100-billion (Rs 6 lakh crore) food services market in India. Analysts estimate the segment would account for 20-25 per cent of the overall market in the next seven-eight years, driven by rising disposable incomes, working women and nuclear families.