Delectable expansion

ENTERTAINMENT: Fun and food go hand in hand for Shringar Cinemas as it readies to open food courts across India.

This July, Shringar Cinemas is all set to give residents of Chandigarh a brand new experience. No, the company is not launching a new multiplex (that's in the pipeline, though!), it is launching a brand new food court for the residents of the beautiful city.

Called Via 1 Food Street, the brand name under which Shringar Cinemas started its food court last year in Surat, the outlet at Chandigarh is just an extension of the company's plans to foray into this sector.

"We are still in the learning process and will take a while before we can roll out," says Rishi Negi, CEO, Big Picture Hospitality Services, looking after the F&B business of Via 1 Food Street. "By opening an outlet in Chandigarh, we will gauge the market response in west and north India," he says.

Negi also gives an interesting angle to the role of F&B in the business of multiplexes. "At least 30 per cent of our revenue in multiplexes comes from the food and beverages that we supply to our audiences," he says.

Which explains why Shringar Cinemas' FAME brand of mulitplexes include pasta bars, Gelato ice-creams and Lebanese food counters besides fruit juice counters.

"Three months ago we began Few Dollars More, a place from where the niche and upwardly mobile audiences can buy imported food and drinks. The company recently tied up with Rajdhani "" The Thali Place, and is already keeping six-seven different thalis for its patrons.

And while the company tests waters with its new business model (typically a food court model costs anywhere between Rs 1.5-2 crore) it is already going forward with its other plans on the multiplex front. While its first, five-screen, multiplex opened in April 2002, it continued to launch its properties in Mumbai, Nashik, Kolkata, Pune and Surat.

By 2010, Shringar Cinemas plans to have approximately 232 screens across India (including the existing properties). The company spends anywhere between Rs 60,000-65,000 per seat and, on an average, it does 275 seats per screen. Going by these statistics (232x6,5000x275), the company will make investments worth Rs 500 crore in the next three years.

Shravan Shroff, MD, Shringar Cinemas, informs, "Our latest additions will include a new three-screen FAME Tapadia in Aurangabad." He adds, "Shringar Cinemas is today growing at a rapid pace with nine new FAME properties within the next 12 months. By the end of this year, FAME would extend its presence in Thane and Ghatkopar (Mumbai), another one at Kandavali (Mumbai), Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Patiala, another one in Pune and an additional property in Kolkata."

The company, that is expected to clock a turnover of Rs 100 crore this year, recently distributed Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya and is set to distribute Jimmy Shergill, Neha Dhupia starrer, Delhii Heights soon.

Besides, Shringar Cinemas also distributes movies that come from the Paramount/ Universal Studios stable. Its most recent distribution has been Dreamgirls starring Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy and newcomer Jennifer Hudson.