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.

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.