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Kaati Zone seeks partners in southern, western India to expand network
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Tuesday, 22 May, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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fiogf49gjkf0d Kaati Zone, a quick service restaurant (QSR) chain, will expand its network of outlets through partnership with local entrepreneurs.
"We are presently planning expansion in major cities of the southern and western regions. We currently have a presence in six cities (Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Mumbai and Pune) and are doing well. Our effort is to expand in the existing locations as well as explore a few tier-2 cities. We will continue to grow through franchisee partners and will have a national footprint over the next 4-5 years," Kiran Nadkarni, CEO, Kaati Zone, told FnB News in an e-mail interaction.
Its franchise programme offers complete support to a franchisee during project implementation and later during operation. "From location selection to providing detailed drawings for construction of stores and the list of equipment with approved vendors and prices to training of staff is extended. During the operational phase periodic training and marketing assistance is offered augment the volume of business. We conduct regular audits to ensure consistent customer experience and adherence to our standard operating procedures," he added.
We are unable to disclose financial information of the company due to confidentiality agreements with our investors, stated Nadkarni.
Kaati Zone is one of the pioneering players in the Indian QSR space. In the initial six years, it focussed on its presence in one city and established the scalability of the business model. Right now it has a central manufacturing facility and frozen supply chain that services the entire network of stores. It has retail store formats that provide attractive returns to franchisees. This is driven by the acceptance of food and convenience of take-away meals which has helped to have a large customer base.
With the scalability in place, we have now started expanding the network of retail stores in the southern and western regions. Kaati Zone plans to storm into shopping areas and malls, transit points like airports and railway stations, and large working communities like business parks and corporate campuses.
It is served in quick time in a proprietary pack that makes it easy to eat without soiling hands and priced moderately. Among the roll options, chicken tikka and mixed vegetable are the fastest-moving items.
Although the most of the consumers are in the age group of 25 to 45 years, there are also those in the older age groups, because our offering healthy and easy to consume on-the-move, he said.
Commenting on the current economic scene, Nadkarni said that QSR chains offer value-for-money food and therefore are less susceptible to economic downturns. We have not been affected by inflation and lesser customer spending in general. There is also a need to revise prices whenever raw material prices show sharp upward movements. However, we continue to be competitive in our offerings to customers at all times.
Most of the successful QSR concepts in India have been introduced by multinational companies. A new class of home-grown companies are now introducing Indian foods in a similar format. Branded Indian food services will have their place in the sun. The organised QSR sector presently addresses a small fraction of overall fast foods consumption in the country, and its share will continue to rise rapidly with more players entering this sector.
The global trend in QSR is towards healthy easy-to-go foods. Our food meets these trends. The key challenges for QSR in India are high real estate costs and staff turnover at outlets, pointed out Nadkarni.
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