|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
QSR the key to Indian cuisine's global success
|
|
Saturday, 16 December, 2006, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
|
Service Restaurants (QSR), promoted by the Poddar Heritage Group, has identified the growing trend of QSR and is bullish on the promising national and international scenario of dining out. After establishing its 15 Points of Purchase across the country and first Pulse restaurant in UK, the company intends to invest from Rs 25-40 crores for its domestic and overseas expansion plans. NEERAJ JAIN, CEO, Pulse Foods India Pvt Ltd in an email interview with Dhwani Pandya of Food & Beverage News gave an interesting insight of the QSR scenario and the company's expansion plans. Excerpts:
How many more outlets are you coming up with throughout the country, in what kind of formats?
We are opening outlets at Vishakhapatnam and Gurgaon and closely looking at another outlet in Noida & Delhi respectively. Pulse has, for the first time in the country and probably in the world, undertaken three different formats of retailing simultaneously ie restaurants, kiosks and food carts.
Can you throw light on your overseas expansion plans?
We have opened our first Pulse restaurant in UK. We are closely studying the mainland European market and the roll-out in several countries in Europe will begin shortly. We are extremely bullish on the international scenario. As interest in India and everything Indian heightens, especially in Europe, Pulse is poised to take a quantum leap. In addition, we are looking at the UAE market as well as the US market and plan to open there shortly.
What are the challenges and opportunities of entering the overseas market?
The biggest challenge lies in getting people to eat Indian food. Unlike Indian food, the other cuisines like Mexican, Chinese, Italian and even Lebanese have found increasing acceptance even from the most traditional pockets. It is observed that this is due to the fact that all these cuisines have gone from fine dining to the QSR route. Fine dining typically signifies sit down, expensive and elaborate meals with not much fun element present. QSR on the other hand has all the elements that suit the fast paced life of today's increasingly urban population the world over.
Indian food is well accepted internationally but suffers from the myth of being "fine-dining" and "exotic" and hence the growth has been restricted. Our focus is to remove the myths associated with Indian food and make wholesome Indian food available to the masses in a format, which they understand and associate with. The opportunity lies in the fact that awareness about India is increasing the world over and along with this the willingness of people to experiment with Indian cuisine is also bound to go up.Pulse targets an age group of 18-40 yrs, because this is the group that is most prone to experimenting with different cuisines. At Pulse we intend to catch the "pulse" of this target age group and serve food which suits the palate.
What will be the total investment involved in the expansion plans for the domestic as well as the international market?
We intend to invest anywhere from Rs 25-40 crores in the next three years. This figure can increase depending on the pace of our expansion. We are planning to increase our chain to roughly 350-400 point of sales in the next three years. The investments and the point of sales would depend on the availability of the right kind of space, which is a constraint in any part of the world.
What is your take on the growing trend of Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) in India?
The growing trend of QSR in India augurs well for the Indian cuisine. As Indians get used to this format they would start demanding the same for Indian food as well. We are hoping that this demand would drive the entry of other Indian restaurant chains to the sector. We believe that for Indian cuisine to succeed internationally it has to take the QSR route and the faster it happens, the better it is for us at Pulse.
What is the USP of Pulse food restaurants?
Our biggest USP is that you are getting safe food. Internationally food safety is a major concern and we can assure our customers that the food they eat at Pulse is safe, served in hygienic environment, standardised and wholesome. The other USP is that the food is not fast food but wholesome Indian food.
How do you ensure the quality and hygiene standard in your restaurants?
We have invested huge resources on our supply chain. Our ingredients are sourced from some of the biggest and renowned companies, which comply with all international quality standards. Our ultimate aim is to backward integrate our supply chain till the farmers and we are working on it. We have stringent quality checks at both the vendor and the restaurant ends. Quality and hygiene audits, surprise checks, mystery shopping etc are all steps that we take to keep ourselves abreast of least bit of deviation, if any, from required standards.
Can you elaborate on your claim to be the first food technology driven restaurant chain?
It was always thought that Indian cooking was chef driven and could not be broken down to the level of automation that the western cuisine afforded. Due to this, standardisation of Indian food was thought of as insurmountable challenge. What we at Pulse set out to do was bring together the art of cooking with science by use of modern food technology, and we have succeeded. Today the food at Pulse is standardised. What you eat at one Pulse outlet would taste the same at any other outlet across all locations. We constantly take customer feedback and refine our offering to suite the maximum palates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|