Westlife eyes almost 3-fold sales growth in 5 yrs, to add 300 McDonald's

Westlife Foodworld, the master franchisee of McDonald's restaurants for West and South India, is looking for an almost three-fold jump in sales up to Rs 4,500 crore in the next five years by 2027, mainly on the back of network expansion, omnichannel approach, according to company officials.

As part of network expansion, Westlife Foodworld will add around 300 McDonald's restaurants in the next five years, in which 60 per cent of the new stores are likely to be in the southern region and the rest in the western zone, said the company in its 'Vision 2027'.

The company, which through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants operates 337 McDonald's restaurants (as of September 30, 2022), has already commenced the work on the next 200 stores.

"Westlife Foodworld's vision 2027 is strategic guidance for our road ahead. We see doubling our sales to (Rs) 40-45 billion in the next 5 years on the back of adding around 300 restaurants by 2027," said Westlife Foodworld Executive Director Akshay Jatia.

According to Jatia, besides network expansion, omnichannel approach, cost optimisation, menu management and capital efficiency would also be the "key growth drivers".

"The external tailwinds which include nuclearisation of families, urbanisation and 'rurban' India's increasing eating out habit and rising aspirations will add to our growth numbers," he added.

For the year ended March 31, 2022, Westlife-operated restaurants had sales of Rs 1,556.08 crore.

Westlife, as per its omnichannel strategy will "Integrate various channels and touchpoints to a One McDonalds platform" in order to provide consumers a seamless experience, said its Vision 2027' document.

Its "30-35 per cent new stores likely to be Drive-Thrus" and it is now "targeting 35-40 per cent contribution from delivery over the medium to long term," it added.

Besides, it is also working on menu strategy with innovation and marketing going forward to drive business growth.

It will maintain leadership in the burger segment through its classic, indulgent and burger meals. Moreover, it will "build a comprehensive chicken portfolio to help enhance product relevance in the South" markets.

As per its strategy, Westlife Foodworld will also work on cost optimisation. It will work on managing impacts of the inflation through improvement in pricing effectiveness.

Through a cluster-based distribution, it will unlocking supply chain efficiencies and optimising existing distribution infrastructure.

Hardcastle Restaurants has been a franchisee in the region since its inception in 1996.