Dr Batra's to open 20 clinics in India, overseas in FY17

Dr Batra's Healthcare is planning to add around 20 new homeopathy clinics across India and abroad by the end of this fiscal as part of its expansion plans. 

"We plan to add 10 clinics in India and 10 abroad during the current financial year," Dr Batra's Healthcare Founder Chairman Mukesh Batra told PTI. 

At present, most of the clinics are company-owned but in tier-III and tier-IV cities, the company has franchise partners, he added. 

The group will also focus on expanding the reach of its FMCG products in India by doubling the number of outlets to 10,000 from 5,000 at present, he added. 

"As we already have a substantial presence in India with 219 clinics, the emphasis here will be more on consolidation while in overseas the focus will be on expansion," Batra said. 

The markets that the company is looking abroad for expansion are the UK, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Oman, Bahrain, Doha, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Switzerland, among others, he added. 

The company is also diversifying its product base, Batra said: "We are entering the nutraceuticals market with launch of four products." 

Founded in 1982 by Mukesh Batra, Dr Batra's Healthcare has 226 clinics spread across around 130 cities in India, Dubai, the UK and Bangladesh.

Poney to open its second store in Delhi

Poney, a Malaysia- based kid's wear brand is opening its second store in Delhi next week. The brand will launch its spring-summer collection 2016 at DLF Saket Mall.

Offering a range of 'supreme quality' apparel for infants and children up to 15 years of age, Poney also plans to introduce its high-end range called 'Enfants'.

"We see India as a potential market, because consumers here seek for quality and style. With an increase in the disposable income of the consumers; we are particularly eyeing at strata A and B segment of our target audience, as they seem to appreciate the quality and styling sensibilities of Poney," Albert Tan, Founder of Poney, Said.

The brand plans to come up with classic silhouette, playful paint and soft abstract prints with decorative floral embellishments, romance lace and woven spandex materials to capture the essence of the season. The collection's colour palette will mainly focus on tones such as Maui blue, lemon meringue, blue curacao, bridal rose, apricot buff and silver birch.

Sbarro hopeful of expanding their India footprint to 50 outlets by mid-2016

Sbarro, chain of Pizza restaurants popular for New York style Pizza internationally, has plans to expand their footprint from the current 15 outlets to more than 50 by middle of next year. Sbarro has opened their 15th outlet last week in Bandra in Mumbai. The international chain based in Columbus, Ohio in the US has three regional franchisees in India for North & East, West and Southern region. 

The international restaurant chain which currently has 1,000 odd stores in 44 countries is keen to expand their network in Asia in general, South East Asia in particular, and the Pacific region. Naresh Vinod Worlikar, Vice President -International Franchise Operations-Asia, Sbarro said that the focus currently is in establishing presence in countries like Malaysia, Myanmar, China, Korea, Australia, etc. Terming India as a potential market for Sbarro, Worlikar said that they are hopeful of adding 15 to 20 new outlets in India by the end of this year. 

As part of their expansion and maintaining the standards, Sbarro will be soon launching Training Centres, one each in a Franchisee region, in India. Worlikar said that one of the operational outlet will be designated as a Training Centre and people will be imparted six to eight weeks training at these centres. Currently, Sbarro has training facilities in the US and Philippines. 

Disclosing the business model, Worlikar said that Sbarro works with Master Franchisees in international markets. These franchisees could be for a country or for multiple countries, or for regions within a country. “These franchisees have the right to develop stores under their corporation or appoint sub-franchisees ,” he said.

Talking about the freedom to localize the recipes, Philippe Jore, Vice President – International Training & Culinary, Sbarro said that while formulations remained the same internationally, localization is permitted in terms of Pepperoni and use of flavours. “In India, considering the market sentiments, Chicken is used in place of Pork or Beef,” he said. “The differentiator for Sbarro is the fresh dough, fresh sauces, and 100% real mozzarella cheese. We are the only international Pizza brand which offer Pizza by Slice. Customer can order a full pizza or in slices,” he said.