Aditya Birla Fashion buys India rights of Forever 21

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, part of Aditya Birla Group, has pipped e-commerce portal Myntra to acquire the rights for global fashion chain Forever 21 in the country for an undisclosed sum.

Forever 21 had a three-year-old tie up with DLF Brands and wanted to exit the partnership for much aggressive play in the country, said sources in the know. Myntra was also in talks to buy the rights of Forever 21, reports said earlier.

Aditya Birla Fashion has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with US based Forever 21 to acquire its exclusive online and offline rights for Indian market and its existing store network in India from the current franchisee Diana Retail, the company said in a release.

Pranab Barua, managing director of ABFRL said, "The proposed acquisition is in line with our strategic intent to create the largest integrated branded fashion player in the country. With the acquisition of Forever 21 India business, we aim to create a strong foothold in the womenswear business in the western wear segment. Currently, the western womenswear segment is growing at more than 20%. The proposed acquisition will further strengthen leadership position of ABFRL in the branded fashion space."

Forever 21 entered the country in 2010 through a Middle East-based group Sharaf Retail, but could not scale it up. In 2013, it forged a partnership with DLF Brands to open 40-50 stores in five years in the country, but couldn't open stores as planned.

Jatin Malhotra, director, global expansion, Forever 21, said: "Forever 21 has built a very strong franchise in India in the last few years and has already become a brand of choice for fashion conscious women. The young demographics of the country and emergence of fast fashion segment offers opportunity for rapid growth for the brand. The partnership of Forever 21 and ABFRL will help establish Forever 21 as one of the largest womenswear brand in the country".

Based in Los Angeles, California, Forever 21 sells fashion merchandise for men, women and kids. Forever 21 is ranked as the fifth largest speciality retailer in the United States.

Founded in 1984, Forever 21 operates more than 730 stores in 48 countries with retailers in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany and others. Forever 21 has brands like Forever 21, XXI Forever, Love 21 and Heritage in its portfolio.

F45 India appoints ex-cricketer Brett Lee as brand ambassador

F45 India, the master franchise for Australia-based functional training system for fitness F45, today announced the appointment of former Australian cricketer Brett Lee as brand ambassador for the country.

Pradeep Palli, Director of F45 India, said the company is also planning to open as many as 300 outlets under the franchise model.

“Fitness chains in India have sprung by dozen, but many of them lack the steam to carry on or transform into successful business models. F45 is here to lay all that to rest. The chain of health transformer is innovative, cost effective and incredibly systemized in their training facility,” Brett Lee said in a press conference.

Skechers to double its store count in India

American footwear major Skechers is looking to double the number of stores in the country to 100, a top company official said.

The company said it is also planning to launch its apparel and accessories collection next year.

"This year we plan to add 50 stores, taking our count to 100," Skechers India CEO Rahul Vira told PTI.

"We plan to have a healthy mix of 50:50 own stores and franchise-owned and going forward, the franchise business would be slightly on the higher side because in a country like India it makes more sense to go through the franchise route because that really drives the business in the markets where we don't have our infrastructure," he added.

He added that typically a 100-150 sqft store entails an investment of Rs 1.5 crore.

The company entered India in 2012 through a JV with Kishore Biyani-led Future Group and now has presence across 700 multi-brand outlets in the country.

Skechers is growing at a fast clip of 70 per cent year on year in India and plans to expand its consumer base.

"We still are not present in a lot of markets. So our focus would be to enter those markets and build our consumer base. There is a huge potential for us to grow in the Indian market.

"In tier I and mini metros, we still are not present in the manner that we should be. Also, we will look at tier II and tier III cities but getting the right real estate is important for us," he said.

It plans to set up its manufacturing unit in the country in the next three to five years.

"We would be looking at setting up our manufacturing and that would be our mid to long term plan. So as the market evolves and we start gaining grounds in the market, it would (take) three to five years," he said.

Skechers sells its footwear in the country and plans to launch its apparel and accessories next year.

"We are evaluating apparel and accessories and hopefully we should be able to bring those product lines soon for our consumers, probably next year," he added.

The company, which received the FIPB approval for single-brand retail in India last month, plans to hawk its products through its website skechers.inlive by third or fourth quarter of this calendar year.

Henry Ford Health Systems inking franchise partnership with KWalls Hospitality

Health and wellness group Henry Ford Health Systems (HFHS) is inking a franchise partnership with Chandigarh-based hospitality and food services firm KWalls Hospitality , as the $5-billion American entity looks to gain a foothold in the high-potential wellness food space in India. 

Under the partnership deal, KWalls will set up stores branded 'Culinary Wellness' in the country, starting with the northern region. The company typically sells sandwiches, burgers, juices and shakes, and even Indian snacks. "India is the first country outside of the US where we are venturing into. We see this as a high-potential market which offers access to expertise and potential to scale up our intellectual property," HFHS vice-president Mark Coticchia said. 

Coticchia said the venture was differentiated from the quick-service restaurant (QSR) space. "We are not a fast-food chain. The focus is predominantly on scientific nutrition, health and wellness and preventive healthcare," he said. 

Growth in the Rs 6,000-crore eating out space has slowed down to low single digits over the past two years as consumers cut down on discretionary spends, and face intense competition from app-based home-delivery providers and hyper local start-ups. 

In the US, Detroit-based HFHS operates stores only within the premises of medical centres and hospitals. However in India, HFHS will set up its business under three verticals clubbed under the Culinary Wellness brand. KWalls Hospitality managing director Sameer Lamba said these will include Culinary Wellness stores, food courts, tie ups with corporates and subsequently, subscription and app-based home delivery services. 

KWalls Hospitality operates close to 25 food courts across Delhi-NCR, Punjab, UP and Hyderabad . 

Slice of Italy plans to open 10 outlets in India

With a motto to deliver high quality and mouth savoring healthy pizzas, Green House & Hestoft Foods Pvt. Ltd., is looking at an aggressive plan to penetrate its Slice of Italy brand in FY 2016-17. The leading brand in authentic Italian food as well as Italian signature cakes, announced  its plans to open 10 outlets in and around Delhi, NCR (Saket, Greater Kailash, Gurugram & Noida) and tier II cities, which includes Chandigarh, Shimla, Mussoorie, Haridwar, Dehradun, Amritsar and Jaipur.
 
Commenting on the expansion plans, Tarun Chaudhary, Managing Director, Slice of Italy said, “We will be reinforcing our distinctive niche in the segment with our expansion plans. We are looking at adding 10 more outlets in this fiscal year, taking the total count to 25 outlets. We are also planning to launch an interactive and user friendly App for customers in the near future for order bookings, safe & secure transactions and quickest deliveries. We are happy with the continuous growth and getting excellent response from our customers so far.”
 
“Our next destinations include regions such as Chandigarh, Shimla, Mussoorie, Haridwar, Dehradun, Amritsar, Jaipur, along with Delhi and NCR (Saket, Greater Kailash, Gurugram & Noida). We believe our commitment to provide quality, excellence in services, an obsession for Pizza, dedicated customer service will make our brand successful in the competitive multinational food service industry,” he added.  
 
The brand has in-house Business Development Team, which guides the franchisees through the design, permitting, bidding and construction process and offers a thorough training and support to its franchisees.
 
The brand known for its Italian menu carrying 66 varieties of Pizzas (Veg & Non Veg) presently, runs 15 outlets in various formats (large and small) in Asian Games Village, Vasant Vihar, Okhla, Lodhi Road, Prashant Vihar, Janakpuri, Dwarka, Mayur Vihar, Hudson Lane, Dilshad Garden, Gurugram Sec-15, Noida, Indirapuram, Jewar and HCL. Out of these 15 outlets, one is a franchise outlet.

Copper Chimney to expand internationally

Indian restaurant Copper Chimney, part of K Hospitality Corp, has announced a new course of international expansion. Building on its domestic strategy, where K Hospitality Corp, operates a mix of company owned and its franchising of select stores/regions to Pan India Food Solutions (owned by Everstone Capital) and CC Fine Foods, K Hospitality Corp has expanded its reach internationally with a prime focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

With operations starting in FY 2016-17, K Hospitality Corp, through its international subsidiary, has signed up a five store development deal for the UAE with Emirates International Group (Emirates Business Group). The stores will open over a period of four years, with two stores expected to launch in this fiscal.

Copper Chimney’s franchise partner in Kuwait has already launched two branches of Copper Chimney, and aims to have another two stores launched by next year in the Kuwait market.

Karan Kapur, executive director, K Hospitality Corp, said, “We are in an aggressive expansion mode and are on-course to extend the Copper Chimney brand to global shores. Over 43 years of its existence, Copper Chimney has created unmatched brand equity which we are now further developing to cater to our brand’s loyal customers as well as new customers outside of the India.”

“This initiative is a key part of our two-pronged expansion strategy which focuses on company owned as well as franchised stores. K Hospitality Corp has been steadily ramping up its presence overseas, and we believe this will present a greenfield opportunity for us as we look at more countries globally. We have been aligning the group’s strengths to further develop a more powerful and distinctive position as a market leader within the F&B industry in this new phase of growth for the brand and group,” he added.

Founded in 1972, with a single Indian restaurant in Mumbai, K Hospitality Corp has over 400 outlets and 5,000 employees in the region. The group operates across two main business divisions – hospitality and food services and travel retail.

US ice cream brand Cold Stone Creamery set to enter India

The US  ice cream brand Cold Stone Creamery is set to open its first outlet in India at Kochi’s Lulu Mall .

The company’s Indian launch follows a partnership collaboration between its subsidiary Kahala Franchising LLC and Tablez Food Company for opening Cold Stone Creamery outlets in India and Sri Lanka.

“We are here as part of our international journey to explore new markets. From Kochi, we’ll soon move to Bengaluru with four-five shops and later to other parts of India,” said Audrey De Haven, Director of International Operations of Kahala Brands.

Audrey, who was here in connection with the opening of the Kochi outlet, said the brand’s overseas expansion began in November 2005 from Tokyo. Today, it has presence in over 1,400 locations across 27 countries, including the US, with the annual sales exceeding $650 million.

The Kochi outlet will offer over 18 signature creations made out of fresh ingredients with candy, cakes, fruits or nuts. Ice creams are made afresh daily at the store and the recipe is handcrafted. Later, it is customized by combining a variety of mix-ins on a frozen granite stone, she said.

“The rise in demand for branded products prompted the entry of many international ice cream brands to India, despite a lower per capita consumption,” Audrey said. In India, ice cream is still considered as an after-food desert while in the US, it could be a meal in itself.

The ice cream market in India is still at a nascent stage with only 300 ml annual per capita consumption against 22,000 ml in the US and 3,000 ml in China.

Shafeena Yussuff Ali, Chairperson of Tablez Food Company, was of the view that ice cream lovers around the globe admire Cold Stone Creamery as an innovator and appreciate its exceptional style of customer service, especially for crafting the freshest quality ice cream products.

MedPlus to set up 1,100 franchise stores; ties up with SBI

Pharmacy retailer MedPlus Health Solutions Pvt Ltd will expand its reach in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh through the franchise model.

“We will be reaching out to the interior parts of the twin States and set up 1,100 MedPlus franchise stores. This initiative will create a lot of rural and tier 2&3 town entrepreneurs and generate employment for more than 2,000 people across the two states,’’ Madhukar Gangadi, Founder and CEO, MedPlus said in a release issued here on Thursday.

It also collaborated with State Bank of India which will extend flexible loans to the franchisees. A typical MedPlus franchise store will be around 300-500 sqft and requires a total investment of around Rs. 15-20 lakh.

SBI will extend up to 70 per cent of the total investment as loan with 50 per cent collateral. MedPlus has set up a dedicated team who will help the franchise owners through the process. As a mandate, each franchisee should either be a pharmacist or employ a pharmacist.