Dunkin’ Donuts to enter India with Jubilant Foodworks

Feb 25, 2011

Jubilant FoodWorks, which runs restaurant chain Domino's Pizza in India, has announced the signing of a master franchisee agreement with Dunkin’ Donuts to bring the US-based baked food and coffee chain to India. The first outlet will open early next year.

Dunkin' Donuts, a leading baked goods and coffee chain with global sales of $6 billion, has over 9,700 restaurants globally in 31 countries.

Commenting on the partnership, Shyam S Bhartia, chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited, said, “We are excited about bringing Dunkin’ Donuts to India. We strongly believe the brand is extremely relevant for India not only due its strength in donuts and coffee, but also due to a differentiated food and beverage menu.”

Ajay Kaul, CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks said that the company plans to open the first Dunkin' Donuts store by early next year. "The company is looking forward to open 25-30 Dunkin' Donuts outlet in three years and touch the 500-outlet mark by the 15th year. On an average, the Dunkin' Donuts outlet will be spread over an area of 750-800 sq ft," he added.

Dunkin' Donuts is expected to be low on capital expenditure and a high-return business for Jubilant FoodWorks, Kaul said, adding that each outlet is expected to start generating positive cash within the first year of operations.

Nigel Travis, CEO, Dunkin' Donuts, said, “Expansions to India is an integral part of Dunkin's international growth plan,” adding the company may also look at localising its fare. Last month, Starbucks Corp signed a pact with Tata Coffee Ltd to set up retail stores in the country.

Dunkin' Donuts, known primarily as a breakfast chain, has seen the popularity of its coffee soar in the US in recent years, competing with Starbucks and McDonalds for consumers seeking a small breakfast before heading to work.

Wendy's expanding in Philippines

Feb 25, 2011

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc said a longtime franchisee in the Philippines, Wenphil Corp has agreed to build 44 more Wendy’s units in that nation over the next several years, bringing the total number of restaurants there to 75.

Wenphil has franchised Wendy’s in the Philippines since 1983, and the operator plans to expand for the first time beyond the capital city of Manila and surrounding areas by subfranchising.

“We’re delighted to renew our franchise relationship with Wendy’s, and we’re excited about the opportunity to further expand our business in the Philippine market through the innovative use of subfranchising,” Elizabeth Pardo-Orbeta, chairman of Wenphil, said in a statement Thursday.

Wendy’s currently has 340 stores outside North America, from a total system base of 6,600 restaurants. The Atlanta-based company stated during is its January investor conference that the brand has the potential for 8,000 international restaurants. Darrell van Ligten, president of Wendy’s/Arby’s International, noted Thursday that while the Wendy’s brand is only beginning an aggressive push for expansion abroad, franchisees have been active since 2009 in various markets, including North Africa and the Middle East, Singapore, Turkey, Russia, the Eastern Caribbean, and Argentina.

“We see great growth potential for the Wendy’s brand in the Philippines, where we are building on the relationship we have enjoyed for many years with Wenphil,” van Ligten said. “This is another example of our aggressive focus on ramping up restaurant development outside North America. … Our international presence would grow to almost 1,000 restaurants if all store commitments currently on the books were to be fulfilled. That number of commitments will increase as we layer on development deals for new markets currently under negotiation and expand agreements with existing franchisees.”

At its investor conference last month, Wendy’s detailed plans to increase its international system, which lags behind those of quick-service competitors Yum! Brands Inc., which holds more than 18,000 restaurants aboard, and McDonald’s Corp., which boasts a similar 18,000 locations overseas. Of Wendy’s 8,000-unit international potential, 30 per cent of projected openings would be targeted in China and Brazil, van Ligten noted then. Another 9 per cent of that capacity would be in Japan, a market Wendy’s exited in late 2009 with the closure of 75 stores.

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group also operates and franchises the 3,700-unit Arby’s brand, which it intends to divest.

Source- Franchise-Plus

Ozone Fitness n Spa to open 50 luxury clubs in five years; seeks franchisees

Feb 23, 2011

New Delhi-based premium fitness club and spa group Ozone Fitness n Spa has announced its expansion plans pan-India through franchise route. The company is planning to open 50 new fitness clubs and spas in tier I and II cities over the next 5 years through franchising. It is also open for joint ventures at some selective locations. Presently, Ozone is operating five boutique health clubs and spa in New Delhi, Gurgaon and Hyderabad, each one of the health clubs has been designed in an approximated area of 12,000 square feet and more.

Naveen Kandhari, managing director, Ozone Fitness n Spa, said, “We have the distinctive expertise to have been managing successfully the health clubs at large magnitudes. We stay significantly ahead from our competitors in terms of rendering world class health club and spa services, our member’s list includes CEOs, senior executives of renowned corporate houses, celebrities, who come to pursue their fitness and well being goals”.

Kandhari further added, “Our major focus would be to offer an exhaustive business support mechanism to our franchisees so as to enable him achieve his business objective by attaining the overall market leadership position in the given geography, the company has earmarked a comprehensive marketing plan to augment company’s business presence in unrepresented areas. But without compromising the size (area) and quality of the franchisee outlet. As we believe that franchisee Ozone are as good as company owned when it comes to customer satisfaction.”

The specialty of the Ozone club lies in its state-of-art infrastructure facilities which include spacious and aesthetically designed cardio and strength zones (in built touch screen personalised entertainment system), dedicated spinning studio, spacious studios, steam rooms, massage suites, wet zones replete with sauna, steam, hot and chill showers and supplemented by toiletries and laundry facile, shower and change rooms with lockers facilities.

The club has also been endowed with some extraordinary facilities such as valet parking (in selected clubs), cafeteria, and 100 per cent power back up, music channels for personalized entertainment and mineral water plant, etc.

Gloria Jean’s Coffees expands in Delhi

Australia's Gloria Jean’s Coffees (GJC), in association with Landmark Group's hospitality arm Citymax India, has expanded its presence in India by opening four new outlets in Delhi. These outlets have opened at Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj (1,450 square feet); PVR Priya complex, Basant Lok (1,400 square feet); Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden (2,000 square feet) and Rohini's Citi Centre (800 square feet). With the addition of the four new Delhi outlets, there are now 16 GJC cafés in the country, reports IndiaRetailing.

“We are very excited to bring our hand-crafted coffee experience to Delhi. While this market has a traditionally strong coffee house culture, we are bringing truly international coffee drinking experience to our guests in the city. With our quality offering and presence across four key locations in Delhi, we will be able to reach coffee connoisseurs across the city,” says Manish Tandon, president, Citymax India Pvt Ltd.

The brand plans to roll out 200 new outlets in the country by 2014. Established 30 years ago, Gloria Jean’s Coffees entered the Indian market in 2008 and is expanding across key cities.

Talwalkars opens health club in Raipur

Feb 18, 2011

Health club chain Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Ltd has launched a health club in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. At present, the company has 91 health clubs in 43 towns across India.

Speaking on the inauguration, CEO Prashant Talwalkar said, “We are extremely happy to open our health club in Raipur. This city has the potential to become a major commercial hub and we hope we can spread fitness to residents of this vibrant city.”

Anant Gawande, chief financial officer and whole time director, Talwalkars, said, “With the Raipur opening, we have further consolidated our leadership position in the health and fitness industry in India.”

The company, Gawande said, was looking at aggressively expanding into other cities of the northern and eastern regions, including tier II and III cities. Talwalkars, though, is not looking at expanding through the franchise route.

Casual fashion brand Uniqlo plans to enter India soon

Feb 18, 2011

Fast Retailing’s Uniqlo chain of casual clothing aims to enter the Indian market “as soon as possible” to tap faster-growing economies to bolster sales, reports Bloomberg.

“We want to study details of the agreement between Japan and India right away,” Fast Retailing president Tadashi Yanai said in Tokyo on Thursday, referring to the trade accord that the two nations signed on Wednesday. “We want to enter India as soon as possible.”

Fast Retailing, Asia’s largest clothing chain, plans to expand the number of Uniqlo stores overseas in an effort to boost sales six-fold to 5 trillion yen ($60 billion) by 2020. Making Uniqlo’s 3,990 yen jeans available in India, where the government predicts economic growth of 8.6 per cent this year, may help Fast Retailing stem its slowest sales growth in more than seven years.

“The faster they open stores in India the better,” said Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. “It will give Uniqlo a head start to building its brand,” Nagahama added.

Separately, Uniqlo said that it aims to sell more than 10 million pairs of chino and cargo pants this spring and summer. Fast Retailing is returning its focus to functional wear after attempts to compete in trendy apparel with Inditex’s Zara and Hennes & Mauritz’’s H&M brands eroded sales growth.

Sales at Yamaguchi, Japan-based Fast Retailing gained 5 per cent in the second half ended August 31, the smallest increase since at least 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

India and Japan signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that will abolish tariffs on 94 per cent of trade over 10 years.

The accord gives companies in Japan greater access to India as China’s presence in the region increases.

Dunkin’ Donuts opens new Dubai outlet

Feb 18, 2011

Dunkin’ Donuts, the leading coffee and baked goods chain, has launched their latest outlet at Uptown Motor City in Dubai.

The expansion is part of the Canton, Massachusetts-based quick-serve giant’s strategy to spread its presence to all corners of the Emirates, which is increasingly becoming a significant market in the burgeoning Middle East region.

“The new outlet is our 61st location in the country. We plan to add a total of 11 outlets across the emirates in 2011,” stated Dunkin’ Donuts general manager David Rodgers.

The chain has planned an investment outlay of more than Dh10 million for the region spread over the next three years.

Uptown Motor City is a residential and lifestyle development designed for motor sports enthusiasts and those who prefer being near the iconic Dubai Autodrome. Apart from a range of apartments, the development includes parks, schools, retail outlets and recreational areas.

Spanish brand Adolfo Dominguez enters India

Feb 18, 2011

Spanish fashion brand Adolfo Dominguez will set up 25 exclusive stores in India over the next five years, three of which will open this year. The mid-market to premium brand has tied up with Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail Group, which will spend up to Rs 50 crore to expand the brand's retail presence. The brand launched its first store in Delhi on Thursday, spread over 35,000 sq ft. The second one is likely to open in Gurgaon, while the third store will open in Mumbai.

"Next on the agenda will be spreading across tier I and II cities depending on the initial feedback. We are looking at expanding at the rate of two to three stores every year," said business head international brands, Wadhawan Lifestyle, Abhinav Zutshi.

The 174.32-million Adolfo Dominguez is positioning itself as an affordable luxury brand in India where the merchandise starts from a price point of Rs 2,500 for a T-shirt and goes upto Rs 45,000 for exclusive gowns. It will initially retail its menswear line, women's wear and youth collection. Later, it plans to introduce its home furnishing line, plus-size fashion line, kids' wear and pet's wear collections.

Zutshi said the brand would introduce its new collections in India at the same time as they are unveiled globally. "The offerings by most international brands in India are a season or two behind their global launch. For today's fashion conscious globetrotters, this is a deterrent as they don't want to shell out money on outdated fashion," he added.

"Adolfo worldwide makes very limited editions of each design. We would like to offer exclusivity to Indian audiences as well," said Tiziana Dominguez, creative director of Adolfo Dominguez, and daughter of founder-designer Adolfo Dominguez.

The brand expects to break even within this year itself in India. "Many of our stores break even within nine months and we are expecting the same here," said Tiziana. At present 75 per cent of Adolfo's global turnover comes from Spain while 25 per cent comes from outside. The company targets 50 per cent of its sale to come from outside Spain by 2015 and 80 per cent in 2020.

Kaati Zone eyes kiosk route for rapid expansion

Feb 18, 2011

Kaati Zone, a venture capital backed brand of Indian quick service restaurants, is eyeing the kiosk format to drive rapid scaling up of its business. The format is expected to enable the six year-old company to expand faster in high footfall locations.

Led by CEO Kiran Nadkarni, Kaati Zone is redrawing its strategy after focussing on providing customers with 'dining experience' through restaurants. The main drawback of a large format outlet is the investment required by the franchisee (Rs 30-40 lakh) and that, in turn, elongates the return on investment, reports IndiaRetailing.

"Kiosks require a much smaller amount of investment (Rs 8-9 lakh) and have the potential to break even in 15-20 months compared to three years for larger outlets," said Nadkarni, who started the venture capital business of ICICI and managed it during the first eight years.

Against at least five people required in the dining format, a kiosk can be run with just two people (assembler and cashier). This reduces operating expenditure to a great extent. At present, Kaati Zone has eight express stores and six dining stores spread across the country and one newly opened kiosk at a mall in Thane (Maharashtra).

While express stores are suitable for locations like airport and tech parks, a kiosk measuring 8 feet by 8 feet is a much more compact and efficient medium for most locations.

"It is quite likely that 8090 per cent of our future expansion may be the kiosk way. Between an express store and kiosk, a kiosk is much quicker to set up, within 12-24 hours once the equipment arrive. To start off, the kiosks will sell Indian rolls and beverages in tie-up with Coke. Later, grilled paratha sandwiches may also be offered," said Nadkarni.

Kaati Zone is funded by Accel India, Draper Investment Company and Ashish Gupta, a co-founder and managing director of Helion Venture Partners.