PVR to set up food courts with Amit Burman

Theatre chain PVR has taken up 30% stake in a joint venture with Amit Burman, one of the promoters of the Dabur Group, and plans to set up food courts.

"We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Amit Burman to set up food courts all over the country and participate in a food retailing business," PVR President and CEO Pramod Arora said at a recent conference call.

"We have taken up strategic possession of about 30% in this company. So, we become a strategic partner in a far bigger place than what we are right now and we really need good quality food courts to complement our cinema offering that we are setting up all over the country," Arora said.

Burman is setting up a food retailing company, which is going to set up its own food brands in India. It plans to secure franchisees of some international food brands and also set up food courts all over the country.

"The way we are really positioned today was because we had a focus on setting up food courts across the country. But, what we realised was that there was growth in food courts," he said.

"Our growth plan was limited to setting courts next to our cinemas and that growth would have been very limited in terms of where we could grow, the amount of management focus we could bring into it and the amount of food brands because essentially if you operate the entire food court business only on a leased model, the margins are also very limited," he added.