ZoomIn to roll out 50 offline franchise stores

Mumbai-based Zoomin Online (India) Pvt Ltd, a photo services start-up, plans to set up 45-50 offline stores by the end of this year through franchise model. At present, ZoomIn has 17 offline retail studios across the country, of which two are franchise-run stores and the rest are in partnership with retails such as Shopper’s Stop’s bookstore chain Crossword and Tata’s consumer electronics store Croma.

The company is also betting on digital camera sales this quarter after witnessing a doubling in user activity on its flagship portal Zoomin.com. Its website offers customised photo products such as mugs, calendars and wedding albums.

Elaborating on why the company took the service offline, Ajay Menon, VP of corporate and business development, Zoomin.com, said, “Our core target is wives and mothers who organise photos and create memorabilia. However, many are not comfortable using the Internet and even if they are, they do not prefer to use the credit card online. Access to the Internet from homes is another barrier. Finally, the touch-feel factor is very powerful in India. That is the reason we have decided to opt for offline retail.”

ZoomIn studios are located in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai. At these studios, visitors can purchase the same range of print products which are available online. The studios typically record 50-200 footfalls on weekdays.

The company is also exploring ways to work with neighbourhood photo studios to leverage ZoomIn services. Some of these studios have shown interest and are conducive to becoming ZoomIn resellers, said Menon.

Sagar Ratna plans Gujarat entry; to open Jain restaurant in Delhi

The Delhi-based Sagar Ratna Hotels Pvt Ltd, which runs the Sagar Ratna chain of restaurants in northern India, is planning to expand its network in Gujarat, according to Mr Roshan Banan, Director of Sagar Ratna Hotels Pvt Ltd.

In an informal chat with Business Line here on the sidelines of the launch of ‘Kudlada Ruchi' (Taste of Mangalore) festival at the Ocean Pearl Hotel on Thursday, Mr Banan said plans are there to open Sagar Ratna Hotels in Gujarat in the next one to two years.

“We are pondering whether to go on our own or take the franchise route,” he said.

Mr Banan said that the company will open an exclusive Jain restaurant at Hotel Ashok in South Delhi in the next three to four months. The food served there will be devoid of garlic and onion, he said.

Stating that the company is also into industrial catering segment, he said it has been catering the needs of a major industrial house in Noida, a major hospital in Delhi and some of professional education institutions in northern India.

On the expansion plans of the company, he said plans are there to have a total 100 outlets in the next five years. Sagar Ratna made an entry into Bangkok three months ago, he said.

At present, the group runs around 75 Sagar Ratna chain of restaurants in various parts of northern India and in Mangalore. In Delhi National Capital Region alone, the company owns 25 outlets.

The company entered the hospitality market of Mangalore with Ocean Pearl (an 84-room luxury hotel) last year. Sagar Ratna has outlets in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu.

Source : The Hindu Business Line

Gelato Italiano to take franchise route for expansion

Blue Food's leading gelato chain Gelato Italiano plans to expand its presence across India. It is looking at strengthening its presence in tier I cities, before venturing into tier II and III cities.

“Our expansion plans are very aggressive this year. We have a very stable base with an excellent back end structure and are poised for growth in the cities where we are currently present. We still have many tier I cities not covered, so will be looking to hit them before looking at expanding in tier II and tier III cities,” Arun Chopra, head-operations, Blue Foods, told IndiaRetailing.

Without revealing how much the company plans to invest on fuelling its expansion plans, Chopra said, “The investment on expansion depends on the openings that we can achieve through the franchise route.”

He, however, informed that Gelato Italiano was looking at presence in both malls and on high street.

The gelato chain currently has around 60 outlets across India in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Vishal Retail founder to launch new 'V2' stores in 2-3 months

NEW DELHI: After selling off stores and assets of debt-ridden Vishal Retail, the company's founder R C Agarwal today said he is ready to make a come back in the retail space with a chain of stores under the 'V2' brand within the next 2-3 months.

In an e-mailed interview, Agarwal told PTI that his new venture will be rolled out under the already publicly listed, Vishal Retail Ltd, with an initial investment of up to Rs 8 crore.

"The name of the brand is V2...It will be done under Vishal Retail Ltd, a listed company," Agarwal said.

In March this year, Vishal Retail Ltd sold off the wholesale and franchise business to private equity firm TPG and the retail undertaking to Chennai-based Shriram Group for a total consideration of Rs 70 crore.

Source : The Economic Times

The transaction also included rights to all trademarks and intellectual property for brands like Vishal, Vishal Retail, Vishal Megamart and Vishal Fashion Mart.

Consequently, Agarwal has chosen a different brand for his new retail venture.

Asked by when he would kick off operations of the new venture, he said it will happen "within 2-3 months".

On the planned investment, he said: "Initial investment will be in the range of (Rs) 7 to (Rs) 8 crore."

As per the plan, Agarwal is looking to set up five hypermarkets to begin with in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP and Jharkhand.

At the time of selling the assets and stores of Vishal Retail, Agarwal had stated that he was preparing a blueprint for a new business and was confident of a 'formidable come back in no time'.

He had founded Vishal Retail a decade back and the brand became a popular name in the country in the discount retail segment.

In 2009, however, Vishal Retail got into financial trouble and piled up around Rs 730 crore in debt and was forced into a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) programme.

Vishal Retail's scrips were trading at Rs 29.90 per share, down 1.16 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Finding Franchise Opportunities That Fit

Franchise business is the best way for aspiring business owners to own or start a business. There are several well documented reasons for this, including proven business model, established operating procedures and the support system that comes with any franchise business just to name a few. There are several other reasons that easily come to mind, but I am sure the overwhelming majority of business minded people have no arguments against the premise.

Now let us address the question I have proposed in the topic of the article. Is there a ‘best fitting’ franchise business – franchise owner scenario? And if there is such a scenario, how does one go about finding the best fitting franchise business for a prospective owner.

There are two approaches to answering this question, one from the Franchisor perspective and the other from the potential business owner perspective. Firstly, the franchisor is typically interested in finding a business owner that has the financial capital and the resources required by the franchise business. Franchises vary a great deal in the amount of liquid capital required and net worth required to operate a business. Franchisors are very aware of this and the first and perhaps the most important indicator of fitness is the capital required and capital available. While the a novice prospective franchisee generally would push the limits of his capacity, the more experienced franchisor must exercise caution while selecting future franchise owner since they know a lot more about the capital demands of the franchise.

The operational requirements of the franchise and the prospective owners experience is another important factor in evaluating the fitness. Franchises have varying operating skill and experience requirements, with some requiring very close attention to detail from the operators, while others are amenable to a hands-off approach. In some cases the domain experience can be crucial such as the food service industries. The time demands on the owner operators can vary a lot as well. So it is imperative that the fitness of the owner and franchise to each other is evaluated by both parties upfront in detail.

The geography and location of the franchise owner also plays a major role in the success of a franchise venture. The location, while may be a totally unexplored geography for the franchise, may not fit the business model and the demographic client base of the franchise. Also the proposed location must fit the potential franchisee, in terms of convenience to their home, availability of employees, cost structure and so on. So the geography becomes a major fitness factor for the franchise selection. There are several franchise for sale opportunities and a franchisee must exercise care while selecting the right franchise opportunity.

As you can see from the above, there are some very crucial fitness factors that must be evaluated between the franchise business and the potential franchisee. Just the simple numbers of the franchise business or the qualifications of the franchisee in isolation do not paint the full picture. The study of fitness of one to the other adds an important dimension to the selection process for both the franchisor and the would-be franchisee.

FitnessOne to invest Rs 30 crore to expand Propel chain

May 11, 2011

FitnessOne, a fitness services and equipments provider, would invest Rs 30 crore to expand fitness centres and fitness equipment stores, branded as Propel, in the next two years. The company has announced a tie-up with Shriram Finance to provide EMI option for their propel fitness equipments.

The company, which runs 37 fitness centres across south India, is planning to strengthen its presence through expanding the number of centers to 100 in next two years, said Vivekanand, managing director, FitnessOne.

"We will be investing Rs 30 crore for the expansion projects, mainly using internal accruals," he said. Currently, it is focusing on reaching out to the tier-1 and tier-2 cities of south India, as fitness consciousness is on the rise in the region, he added.

The company would also increase the number of Propel fitness equipment stores from current 10 to 50 by the period. Almost 75 per cent of the new stores would be company owned, while the rest would be managed through franchise model. At present, it has eight franchise outlets.

Through its tie-up with Shriram Finance, meant for customers in Tamil Nadu, it would offer five EMI schemes to choose from depending on their convenience. Propel stores, established in 2008, currently provides fitness equipments ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 3 lakh including fitness cycle, yoga mat, treadmill, benches, stretchers and strength equipments.

The company has clocked in around Rs 35 crore turnover in the last fiscal and expects to reach a turnover of Rs 50 crore by the end of current fiscal year, he added.

Pressto on mega expansion mode; seeks franchisees

Dry-cleaning and laundry service chain Pressto plans to reach the 100-store mark in the next 2-3 years via franchise model. It plans to invest around Rs 20 crore to fuel its expansion plans, reports IndiaRetailing.

Esther Lennaerts, executive chairperson, Pressto, said, “We would invest around Rs 20 crore for expanding retail footprint.” It currently has 12 stores -- eight in Mumbai and four in Delhi.

In this calendar year, Pressto plans to double the store count to 25 and to expand to cities such as Pune and Bangalore.