Oxford University in talks with Madura Garments for a brand franchising deal for apparels

The University of Oxford may not have made up its mind to set up a campus in India, but it may soon be selling fashion clothing in the country in a tie-up with Aditya Birla Group company Madura Garments. Oxford Ltd, a wholly owned arm of the British university that runs a £50 million-plus retail sales branded merchandise business across the world, is in advanced talks with Madura Garments for a brand franchising deal for apparel.

Chris Evan, MD at Oxford Ltd, said it plans to sell fashion apparel, accessories, education-related products including school bags and stationery, home interior and lifestyle products, luggage and even furniture in India by spring of 2015.

"We have already signed a very important deal with an apparel and accessories partner," he told ET. Oxford has already appointed Vadodara-based Swadesh Essfil as educational toys licensee and , Evan said.

Evan said Oxford plans to occupy a premium to mid-tier pricing structure in the country and its products will be available in both offline and online platforms. "We will be developing various categories further with our licensees to create a decent retail visibility in India, and will also be seeking to develop the home, interior and lifestyle category with the right partnerships," he said.

"We are looking for different franchisee partners for individual categories." Other categories Oxford will potentially explore in the country for brand licences include luxury ceramics, kitchen-ware and home decor, luggage and vintage furniture, Evan said.

The brand licensing market in India is still small, estimated at just $1 billion, less than 1% of the $200-billion global market.

Ezeego1.com opens franchise store in Pune

Ezeego1.com has launched a franchise store in Pune, Maharashtra. The store will provide all travel services offered on the website, such as flight tickets, hotel booking, car rentals, holiday packages, rail, cruise, bus, sightseeing, visa, and insurance, as per a release. Ezeego1.com now has a combined strength of 21 franchisees in India.

With the opening of the store, Ezeego1.com aims to strengthen its presence in Maharashtra and provide an alternative channel of booking, which will enable customers to interact with travel counselors on a personal basis.

As with all other stores, Ezeego1.com will provide the franchisee with an active marketing, technical and store development support. Store development support will include store designing to reinforce the brand’s look and feel. Training and technical support will be provided to all franchise staff to effectively address the changing technology and enhance customer interface.

The travel site recently opened a store in Yavatmal, also in Maharashtra.

Burger King to open 12 outlets in India over three months

American fast food chain Burger King will open 12 outlets in India over the next two-three months, six each in Delhi and Mumbai. According to people familiar with the burger chain’s plans, the brand will roll out its first outlet in the capital in less than a month at a prominent mall in South Delhi, followed by the rest in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai. With an investment of up to Rs.2-2.5 crore per outlet, Burger King is eyeing other potential locations like Pune, Chennai and Bangalore. To be sure, Burger King is launching in Asia’s third largest economy where a spurt in disposable incomes has led to a rise in out-of-home food consumption, pushing chains such as Domino’s, McDonald’s and KFC to expand. Burger King has spent the last six to eight months working on its menu that will result in some India-specific modifications in dressings for Indian consumers. The company will start with its vegetarian and chicken burgers, and subsequently add lamb burgers to its menu. 

Vivafit Makes A Debut In Lucknow

Vivafit, an advanced fitness centre, made its foray in Lucknow. It also declared opening of four more centres in the city to reach out to a wider number of women and also encourage nutritionists to help women in bringing about a change their lifestyle. The decision to introduce Vivafit to Lucknow was a result of extensive market research. A strong need among women for a holistic approach that combines advanced fitness exercises with nutritional solutions, was the main driving force behind this venture.

Expressing his views on the entry of Vivafit in Lucknow, Pedro Ruiz, Chief Executive Officer, Vivafit says, “I am very satisfied with the opening of gym in eastern region of Uttar Pradesh. We have already signed contracts for master franchise in North India and South India.”

Vivafit is a European brand that introduced the concept of women-only gym. Pedro Ruiz and his wife, Constance, co-founded and opened the first women’s gym in 2003. Currently leading the Portuguese, Indian and Singaporean market in this niche segment, Vivafit offers a new concept of express training focused on delivering the result desired by the customers. Its franchise network covers 60 centres  around the world spanning India, Spain, Uruguay, Singapore, Indonesia, Abu Dhabi, Oman. The brand is looking forward to have its presence in Taiwan and Saudi Arabia as well.

Vivafit offers a concept of express training considering the lifestyle needs of the customers, and offers them the best exercise and nutrition program for health improvement and weight loss results. Sharing a word on the mission of Vivafit, Manisha Ahlawat, Master Franchisee, Vivafit-North India added, “We want to send a message to all men that we women need their support in getting the women out and join Vivafit, thus helping us in making Lucknow a better place for women.”

Sagar Ratna Seeks Partners In East & Central India

One of the leading South Indian restaurant chains,Sagar Ratna is looking at expansion in Central and East India. The brand was established in 1986, with its first outlet in Defence Colony.  Its branches are spread across India and Sagar Ratna currently operates 89 restaurants, out of which 44 are company owned and 45 restaurants are franchisee-run.  

As per Muralikrishna Parna, CEO, Sagar Ratna: “We are in the consolidating phase presently. We are seeking Master Franchisees for Central and East India. I think cities in East India have a lot of potential that needs to be explored.”

With its mission to provide great taste and good quality food along with memorable service in a clean and simple ambience, Sagar Ratna caters to approximately eight lakh customers across Delhi and NCR in a month.  The menu offers a wide range of authentic mouthwatering delicacies, with its newest offering being the summer menu “flavourful twists”- with first ever introduction of flavourful idlis, fusion dosas, Sparking sodas and Mojitos, and lot more.

The USP of the brand is that they strive to keep food fresh at all times. Each dish as well as accompaniments like chutneys are prepared fresh every day and are made several times throughout the day at all Sagar Ratna outlets. The ambience and décor of the Sagar Ratna’s restaurant is traditional yet contemporary, keeping in mind the taste and changing trends of the society. The ambience with its vibrant orange colour radiates an atmosphere of liveliness; the aroma of fresh filtered coffee reflects the rich and exquisite cuisine of South India.

Celio continues India focus, targets opening 100 stores by ’16

Celio, the French fashion retailer is all set to strengthen its connection with Indian customers. The brand, is eyeing a bigger pie of India’s organized menswear retail market. Celio brings an essentially urban European fashion trend through its collection of shirts, jackets, waistcoats, trousers, suits, jackets and accessories.

In India, Celio offers a wide range of smart casual, business wear, sportswear, clubwear and denims. Celio had stepped into the country in 2008, the brand opened its first store in R City, Mumbai in 2009. Today the brand runs 40 exclusive brand stores which are fully company owned and operated and 128 shop-in-shops. The brand has also penetrated through large format stores like Pantaloons, Central and Lifestyle. Celio is looking at rolling out 100 stores by 2016.

Riding the booming e-commerce wave, the brand has already registered 7 percent of its total revenue in the domestic market through online sales. It has tied up with leading ecommerce portals like Myntra, Jabong, Flipkart and Amazon. “The urban Indian youth is aspiring for fast, effortless fashion. In India the younger generation is as fashion seeking as their global counterparts. They have exposure of international trends through the net, TV and mobile. We want people to come up to us for global fashion,” says Rajiv Nair, CEO, Celio, Future Fashion.

Driven by a strong conviction in India market, the brand is eyeing deeper penetration through retail expansion and a strategic communication plan targeted at young consumers. “We are essentially a retail oriented company which means our philosophy or strategy is store, product and customer service centric. We are exploring various routes to increase our penetration and strongly believe internet is the way,” he says.

“We have a legacy of two decades and in India we are just a starter, we are still understanding the market. We see ourselves as a retailer first, backed by a fantastic manufacturing set up. We manufacture four crore garments in Asia per annum and 10 lakh of these per annum are for India. We are taking the slow route. We have set the route and standards. Now, our goal is to get profits at the corporate level,” adds Nair.

Although the brand is not in a hurry to open franchisee stores it does plan to slowly tap that route. “Even though we are looking at franchisee stores for expansion, it won’t be bigger than our company stores. We understand that we have to take the franchisee route to get into smaller territories,” sums up Nair.

Reliance Securities Seeks Partners Pan-India

Reliance Securities Limited, one of India’s leading equity brokerage houses, is looking for more franchise centres. The company presently has 89 franchisees in Delhi-NCR. Of all these centres, four are company-owned units.

The company offers many services including stock broking, mutual fund, life insurance, corporate FDIs and all sort of general insurances. The brand offers its franchisees exclusive feature of trade booster which not all companies have. As per Company’s Official Spokesperson: “We have 89 franchisees in Delhi NCR and we are looking for more franchisees. We provide all support and assistance to our franchisees so that we can together provide best services to the consumers.”

The company works towards bringing unique and rewarding opportunities for promising entrepreneurs. Its EDGE+ initiative helps like-minded entrepreneurs to understand the opportunity framework with-in the financial services and empowers franchisees to take informed business buying decision. The brand offers attractive product bouquet, cutting edge trading platform and proven track record of research.

Harry's Bar opens second outlet in Mumbai

Harry’s Bar Cafe, a Singapore-based bar chain, has opened its second franchise in Juhu here.

Quite a few known faces of Bollywood like Anupam Kher, Tiger Shroff, Manish Paul and Tulip Joshi attended the bar's launch here Friday. The first franchise is in Powai.

Choreographer Bosco, actor Vindu Dara Singh and photographer Dabboo Ratnani were also present at the event.

Three things have always been the highlight of the bar -- drinks, food and music, which remain intact for it's new franchise as well.

The food menu, put together by chef Vicky Ratnani, offers an international selection of foods such as Pattaya Beach Fish Goujons, Moroccan Rubbed Cottage Cheese and Singapore Chicken Satay with the bar's specialties like Harry’s jazz burger.

The bar menu also gives a reason to get tipsy with a wide variety of beer, available both in bottles and on tap, and an extensive mix of cocktails created by mixologist Shatbhi Basu.

Some of the specials include caramel popcorn martini, green lantern, guava mary, dirty Harry and the classic Singapore sling.

However, non-drinkers need not become gloomy as the bar also has special variants of non-alcoholic drinks.

Harry’s, which was founded by Jim Gelpi in 1992, is owned by F&B Asia.

Apollo Clinic To Take Its Outlet Count To 175

Apollo Clinic, a primary healthcare vertical and a 100 per cent subsidiary of Apollo Group of Hospitals is expanding its network. It is looking forward to set up 175 clinics in the next three years across India, Africa and the Middle East. Presently it has around 100 outlets spread all over India. Among them 50 are franchisee run.

Explaining about the expansion plans of Apollo Clinic, Neeraj Garg, Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd, says, “We have overseas presence in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. We are making inroads into Africa through Apollo Medical Centre in Tanzania which should be operational in three to four months. Plans are being firmed up to open additional centres in Africa.” Apollo Clinic is the only brand of Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd (AHLL) that runs on franchise model. Other brands namely, Apollo Cradle, Apollo Sugar, Apollo Diagnostics, Apollo Cosmetic and Apollo Day Surgery are company owned.

Apollo Clinic renders consistently superior quality health care services to address the day-to-day health care needs of people. To maximise convenience and comfort, Apollo Clinic is an integrated model and offers facilities for specialist consultation, diagnostics, preventive health checks and 24-hour pharmacy-all under one roof. It also offers a range of value added services such as counseling on various lifestyle parameters. Apollo Clinic is synonymous to ‘your new neighbourhood clinic’.

AHLL is headquartered in Hyderabad. It was founded in 2002 with an aim to bring healthcare of international standards within the reach of every individual. Apollo Clinic is a venture undertaken by AHLL to achieve this objective and take the brand presence all over India as well as across international market. 

Zee Learn Ltd To Expand Its Network

Leading educational organisation from the Essel Group, Zee Learn Ltd has aggressive growth plans to expand pan-India. Zee Learn Ltd has recently launched itself in Nepal and there are plans to enter all the markets where there is sizable NRI population. As far as the cities are concerned, Zee Learn Ltd has been able to build a good presence in the tier I, II cities and is always on the lookout for new territories.  

K V S Seshasai, Chief Executive Officer, Zee Learn Ltd informs: “Aggressive growth is the mantra that Zee Learn Ltd follows and this growth will be fuelled by both the preschool and k-12 school segment. The plan is to keep strengthening the network and at the same time introduce innovative teaching aids to ensure quality education.”

Kidzee is Zee Learn Ltd’s flagship brand and is also Asia’s largest preschool network with over 1350 centres, spreading learning and smiles in over 500 cities in India while also having prepared over four lakh children for future leadership and excellence. The company is already a leader in the K-12 education with over 150 schools across India by the name of Mount Litera Zee School. 

On franchising support, Seshasai informs: “Zee Learn Ltd supports its franchisees with a proven model that helps them get- Respect, Recognition, Rewards and Returns. End to end management support is provided to the franchisees to get the schools and preschools operational.”

Natural to invest Rs50-75 crores to add 100 ice-cream parlours

Mumbai-based ice cream parlour chain Natural will invest Rs.50-75 crore to add 100 stores in cities across north, south and west India over the next five years, said a senior executive at the company, which on Wednesday opened its first store in the capital. Natural Ice Cream is seeking to build a retail footprint as it moves away from a franchise model to a company-owned and operated one. The two-decade-old family-run business has 118 parlours across south and west India, selling 19 flavours of ice cream including tender coconut and jackfruit. It also has 116 franchise-run outlets. Srinivas Most new additions will be company-owned, said Srinivas Kamath, director, Natural Ice Cream. “Over the years we’ve realized that cost of opening a franchise outlet has gone up dramatically, owning to expensive real estate,” said Kamath. “Plus we want to control quality over our products and supply chain.” “We will see the demand in new markets and then decide if we want to open franchise stores,” Kamath added. Delhi remains a popular market for the company that claims to have flown in 2,400 scoops of ice cream a day during the peak wedding season in winter last year. It will open its second store in the capital in November. Half of the new stores, Kamath added, will be in north India in cities such as Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow and Kanpur. Another 50 will be in existing markets in south and west India. Kamath said the company will gradually look at cities such as Kolkata and Guwahati in the east. “Logistics remains a challenge to service these markets right now, but we might look at them at some point,” he added. Kamath said that the company was being courted by private equity companies, but said he maintained a conservative approach towards PE funding. “We find equity more expensive than debt, so we are not actively considering any deals.”

French brand Lacoste looking at franchisee model to expand

French luxury brand Lacoste is planning to explore the franchisee model for expansion into tier-II cities in India.

The decision follows the good response it got in some tier-II cities such as Jalandhar, Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Pune.

According to Rajesh Jain Managing Director & CEO, Lacoste India, good responses were seen from tier-II towns located near the big cities. This apart, an increase in brand awareness coupled with rising proliferation of shopping malls in smaller towns are good indicators.

“While expansion in tier-II towns will mostly be through franchise routes, we will look to stick to the own-store format in major cities,” he told BusinessLine. Lacoste is currently present across 45 tier-I and II locations mostly through the company-owned model.

Plans are afoot to double the point of sales 90 over the next four years (FY-19). Created in 1933 by René Lacoste, the brand – famous for its polos (collared t-shirts) – entered India in 1993. Lacoste India is a strategic alliance between Lacoste and Sports and Leisure Apparel Ltd (SLA).

Most of the apparels sold here are manufactured from its existing facility in the country.

The company has one unit located in Noida, and the second one – in the same complex – is expected to be operational over the next six months.

Lacoste did not share the capacities or the investment details but maintained that units would suffice its India requirements.

According to Jain, the company was also mulling the entry into Nepal and Sri Lanka over the next one year.

Currently, SLA has the exclusive rights to manufacture Lacoste branded garments in India.

American premium burger chain Carl's Jr set to enter India

Come April, Indians will have the choice to taste charbroiled burgers by Carl's Jr - a brand that has been endorsed by the likes of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and Padma Lakshmi.

California-based premium burger chain, Carl’s Jr, which is known for its signature line of charbroiled thick burgers and is among the top 10 quick service restaurants chains globally, is set to enter India, with the first outlet to be opened here by April next year.

The American fast-food chain has already signed a franchisee agreement with city-based Cybiz BrightStar Restaurants Pvt Ltd, owned by CybizCorp. Over the next five years, there would be at least 100 Carl’s Jr outlets in India, said Sam Chopra, group chairman and founder of CybizCorp The chain targets to open about 1,000 outlets across India over 10-15 years.

Carl’s Jr joins the race with the world’s second largest burger chain Burger King, which had formed a joint venture with private equity fund Everstone Capital last year to develop its presence in India and plans to open the first outlet soon.

Besides, its rival, Fatburger has already opened its first outlet in Gurgaon, near Delhi recently.

“It is a burger that is delivered in just three minutes after the order is placed. And, we deliver it fresh. Nothing is prepared before hand,” said Chopra, adding that he would, for the first couple of years, focus on the northern market. The chain would spend about $25 million (about Rs 150 crore) in the first five years in developing a presence in India.

CKE Restaurant Holdings, the parent company of Carl’s Jr, had already invested $1.5 million in India in consumer research, product development and tasting trials during the past three years, Chopra said.

“We target ticket size at Rs 400. We’ll not offer beef in India, and for the first time in Carl’s Jr history, vegetarian burger, with six varieties, will be introduced. Over the next few years, we may also look at taking vegetarian burgers to other countries,” Chopra said, adding that Carl’s Jr will not target the mass market. Sales of Rs 2.5 lakh a day an outlet would make the venture viable, he said.

Chopra believes that the time is right for a ‘premium burger quick-service restaurant’ such as Carl’s Jr to enter India. “As we are witnessing a burger revolution in our country, a parallel phenomenon that was witnessed in the pizzas and pasta category a decade back,” he added.

Besides India, Carl’s Jr has recently entered new markets like Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, New Zealand and the Bahamas.

Over the past decade and a half, a handful of quick-service restaurants have made a beeline for India, including McDonald's, Yum Brands - the owner of restaurants such as Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell- and Subway.

Domino’s Aims To Target Tier II, III Cities For Expansion

Strengthening its presence in tier II and III cities, Domino’s Pizza has opened two restaurants one each in Gorakhpur and Udaipur.In the last one year, Domino’s Pizza has aggressively strengthened its presence in cities including Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Korba (Chhattisgarh), Rajahmundry (AP), Aligarh (UP), Hoshiarpur (Punjab), Belgaum (Karnataka), Dharamshala (HP) and Rangpo (Sikkim).

Commenting on the expansion, Ajay Kaul, CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited said: “We are extremely happy to be expanding our footprint on way to achieving our ambition of being in the vicinity of every pizza lover in the country. We would like to thank all our loyal customers, whose love and loyalty for the brand has been our constant motivation in this success journey and we are confident that we will become the restaurant of choice for all pizza lovers.”

While, Harneet Singh Rajpal, Senior Vice-President-Marketing, Domino’s Pizza India said, “Every restaurant that we launch in a new city brings us closer to our consumers and helps us deliver the best of our products and services to them. Over the last decade, we have been the fastest growing food service company in India and have successfully pioneered innovative concepts and products for the Indian taste palette. I would like to thank all our consumers who have shown immense love and support for us and our brand. I hope new restaurants help all the pizza lovers here to celebrate their moments of happiness and create wonderful memories with their loved ones.” 

Jubilant FoodWorks Limited is part of Jubilant Bhartia group and one of India’s largest food service companies, with a network of 795 Domino’s Pizza restaurants across 166 cities.

Inspired by Salman's 'Being Human', Julian Assange to launch line of clothing in India

Relying on India's enthusiasm for brands and online shopping, 43-year-old Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is all set to launch his range of clothing and accessories in the country.

According to a report in The Times of India, Assange is hopeful that this move will be successful on account of him being a symbol of rebellion.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is all set to launch his range of clothing and accessories in India. AP

Much like Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara's line of clothing being popular in India, Assange too hopes he will strike a chord in the heart of the Indians.

Talking about the popularity of brands in India, Gaurav Marya,  the company which is working for the entry of brand Wikileaks into the country, told Times of India, "Look at 'Being Human' by Salman Khan. Slowly but surely, it has ballooned into a Rs 100-crore business without any major investment in marketing and advertising. Similarly, during the general elections, Namo merchandise created a huge stir."

The report added that Wikileaks would distribute T-shirts and sweatshirts with taglines like 'Leaks exposing injustice' and 'Enemy of the state'.

Snap Fitness to have more than 100 centres by next year

Bangalore-based Snap Fitness India, the Indian master franchisee of Minneapolis, US-based fitness chain Snap Fitness that operates round-the-clock, is looking at an initial public offering (IPO) after a year when it completes 100 centres across the country.

Snap Fitness entered India in 2008 with its first centre in Bangalore. At present, there are about 50 Snap Fitness centres in India, of which 33 are located in Bangalore. The company is now plans to open centres in tier-I, tier-II and tier-III cities to take the number of total centres to 300 over the next three years. Of these, about 30 would be company owned. However, if the company gets external funding, they will open 100 company owned centres. While the company operates 24 hours a day, it may look at keeping centres in smaller cities closed at night.

Snap Fitness centres, in sizes of 3,000 sq ft, 4,000 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft, typically entail an investment of between Rs 1.2 crore and Rs 1.5 crore each. It follows a 'hub-and-spoke' model, where it will have one company-owned centre and close to four franchise-run locations built around that area. Over the next three years, the company and its franchises will spend about Rs 350 crore.

Its flagship stores earn about Rs 1.6 crore to Rs 1.8 crore annually, while about 50% of the earning goes to meet operational expenses.

The fitness industry in India is estimated to cross Rs 6,000 crore by 2015 while more than 95% of the sector is still unorganised. Organised brands like Talwalkers, Gold's Gym and Snap Fitness contribute the remaining.

Kurlon Mattress Xpress Seeks Expansion Pan-India

Kurlon Mattress Xpress, a venture of Kurlon Enterprise Limited is looking forward to expand its business pan-India. The brand has 177 stores presently and is keen to increase its count.

Kurlon Mattress Xpress is a one stop shop focused on shopping experience for its customer's comfort needs. It is a smaller retail adaptation of the brandedretail space from Kurlon ranging between 400-900 square feet where customers could shop for Kurlon products like mattress, pillows, beds, tables, bed sheets, comforters, cushions and pillow protectors. For franchising, requirement of the brand in terms of area is 500 square feet and in terms of RoI is 25-30 per cent.

Kurlon has built a high recall amongst consumers over the years. To leverage this inherent strength it has entered the retail space with this one stop shop called Kurlon Mattress Express. Through this medium, the brand aims to showcase its entire gamut of products. Kurlon Enterprise Limited is a pioneer in the mattress industry. It is a 53 year old organisation which ia synonymous of ‘sleep comfort’. Kurlon has a pan-India presence with seven manufacturing plants of which four are green certified. It caters to the needs of consumers of all age groups with varied tastes and preferences. 

Haldiram's to add another 150 stores by FY 2020

New Delhi: Haldiram's, a leading Indian sweets and snacks manufacturer is expanding its network in South and West of India through Franchise route. The company for the first time has taken the franchise route to expand its business, which will eventually help the brand to grow manifolds.

 

Taking the legacy forward, Haldiram’s is now gearing up with massive expansion plans.  Efficiently operating through offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai & 10 outlets in Nagpur, Haldiram’s is inviting citywise master franchisees across Southern India region for its various formats. Haldiram’s operates in three formats, casual dining, quick service restaurants and Kiosk.

 

The company is looking for master franchisee owners who can successfully introduce or develop F & B or retail concept and capability to roll out minimum 5 restaurants  & 1 warehouse in territory allocated to them in the first 2-3 years of operations. Franchisee would pay fee of Rs. 1 Cr for city rights to build 5 restaurants.

Haldiram’s will provide extensive guidance and support like set up, supplies, training, inventory management, centralized kitchen, operations manual, dedicated teams, facilitation, technology, advertising and promotion to master franchises in ensuring smooth operations and hassle free functioning of the franchised outlets.

Mr. Neeraj Agarwal, Managing Director-Haldiram’s said, ” Haldiram so far adopted company owned stores but now that each stores has reached a maximum potential sales per day, the group plans aggressively to grow further by entering key markets in south and west India only.  We want to invite master franchisees for Haldiram’s growth and expansion in these regions.