Keys Hotels to grow via the franchise model, management deals

Keys Hotels is staying away from building its own hotels and has decided to expand through franchises and management contracts to shield itself in a slow market. Having invested in seven hotels, the chain has now set its sights on smart cities such as Visakhapatnam, Calicut and Jaipur to grow through franchises and management contracts with almost 70 new hotels planned in the next 12 months.

Vikas Chadha, Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer, Keys Hotels, said: “Looking at the current market, we will now be expanding mainly through our budget and mid-market brands like Keys and Keys Lite. We will continue to take over unbranded properties and convert them under our brand as long as we get the right location mostly in tier II markets where there is lack of branded hotels.”

In fact, most of its added hotels would be in the budget and mid segment rather than its premium brand of Keys Prima. “The majority of our hotels would be under the Keys Lite brand in the budget segment with only a couple of them under Keys Prima since it is not easy to find luxury properties which can get converted,’’ he added.

With 20 properties and 1,800 rooms across brands like Keys (mid market), Keys Lite (budget) and Keys Prima (upper mid market), the hospitality company has been mainly catering to the business and corporate sector.

“Almost 70 per cent of our revenues come from the corporates to whom we also sell directly and also through OTAs,’’ he added. Becoming asset-light through franchises and management contracts is also expected to help the company reap profits.

Keys Hotels is promoted by Berggruen Holdings, a New York-headquartered proprietary fund, and has been present in India since 2006. “The fund was set up specifically for entering the Indian market under the Keys brand and has already invested $100 million in India,’’ added Chadha.

Carl’s Jr to enter India by April 2015

Carl’s Jr, California-based, is looking at opening their first restaurant in New Delhi by the end of the first quarter of 2015. CKE Restaurants Holdings, the parent company of Carl’s Jr, recently signed a development agreement with Cybiz BrightStar Restaurants, owned by CybizCorp, to develop 100 restaurants in the initial phase. Elaborating on the same, Samir Chopra, group chairman and founder, Cybiz Corp, stated, “Carl’s Jr will be targeting the development of Tier II and III cities after it’s initial launch in the Delhi and NCR area and other Tier I cities.” He also mentioned that they are looking at expanding through a company owned company operated (COCO) model only, however, at a later stage they may venture into FOCO (Franchise Owned Company Operated).

To create a niche for themselves in the India market, Chopra believes that Carl’s Jr is not a mass appeal brand. “The brand is a premium quick service restaurant which offers partial services to customers, and is recognised for its premium products, centred on wide variety of fresh and delicious charbroiled burgers that lead the industry in taste, quality and innovation,” he stated. Based on their research, Carl Jr has also developed a vegetarian menu to be launched here, apart from their signature dishes. Talking about marketing and promotional strategies, Chopra added, “Our target audience is the young and hungry which defines more than 50 per cent population of India and this audience is engaged on different social media platforms, and hence initially we are keen on the new age social media strategies but definitely in the later run we will be following a parallel approach used successfully by Carl’s Jr globally.” burger chain

Now, Domino’s Pizza at your train seat

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has inked a deal with Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL), the parent company of Domino's Pizza, to deliver pizzas while passengers are traveling in trains.

The passengers can order pizza through a phone call or online. Initially, the delivery service is being provided at 12 stations including New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Alwar, Ambala, Jalandhar, Mathura, Muzzafarnagar, Pathankot, Vapi, Bharuch and Vadodara, and gradually it will be extended to more stations.

While, e-catering facility has been extended to 120 trains to start off with and more of them will also be added in the coming days. “Yes, the arrangement has been made. The passengers can order online or via a phone call and hot pizzas will be served at their seats in the train enroute,” a JFL spokesperson told.

Other than IRCTC website, the passengers can also place an order through toll-free number 1800-1034-139 or by sending an SMS to 139 giving details of their PNR and seat number.

JFL runs about 844 restaurants of Domino’s Pizza across 185 cities in India and claims to be the largest market for Domino’s Pizza worldwide, outside the USA, surpassing the UK restaurant count.