France-based Elior group, a contract food catering and support services provider, is expanding its footprint in India and would continue its double-digit growth, a top company official said.
As part of its strategy, the company is focusing mainly on two segments -- business & industry and educational institutes.
"Our focus would be blue collar and white collar workers. We also have presence in the educational sector, which would continue to expand," Elior India CEO and MD Sanjay Kumar said.
Elior is also looking at catering opportunities from the government segment, including sectors like railways, defense and others.
"We do have the expertise, but IRCTC is still in the process of revisiting their model. If they do that, we would be more than happy to participate with the government as opportunity rises," he said.
Also Read
Asked about growth, Kumar said the company would continue to grow faster than the industry.
"We have witnessed a growth rate of 18 per cent over the past two years and we plan to keep this momentum going," said Kumar.
However, he added that it has been affected by the slowdown in the manufacturing sector, which is its key client.
"Manufacturing is a big part of our portfolio, specially automotive. We also have presence in education, but it is not linked with slowdown," he said, adding, "We would outpace the industry but overall industry size would be low."
According to him, the total outsourced Indian food market is around USD 6.5 billion and is very fragmented.
"This is very small in comparison to China which is USD 105 billion," he said, adding there is "huge opportunity" and enough headroom to grow in the segment.
Elior India on Friday introduced El Chef -- a digital initiative for corporate employees in India. This allows employees to create their favourite menus, monitor order updates and history, check out weekly menus and plan meals based on their specific needs.
The company is present in cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Amravati, Bhopal, Tiruchirappalli, Hosur and Nellore.
Elior, which competes with companies like Sodexo -- a market leader in the segment -- had entered the Indian market in 2017 with simultaneous acquisitions of two contract caterers Megabite Food Services and CRCL.
Besides France and India, the company has presence in other countries such as Spain, Italy, US and UK.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
