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QSR giant Yum! Brands poised to have 50,000 associates in India by ’15
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Tuesday, 11 March, 2014, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Anurag More, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d India is expected to drive substantial growth for quick service restaurant major Yum! Brands (owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) in the years to come. Devashish Dasgupta, the company’s director, corporate affairs, said it is investing in the local economy and workforce, and expects to have 50,000 associates by 2015.
“India is a leading country for new unit development worldwide. Yum! believes in building people capability and has robust training and development. We have been on an accelerated growth. We currently operate 625 restaurants and by 2015, we expect to have about 1,000 restaurants in about 100 cities,” he added.
“Yum! and its franchise partners plan to invest $100 million in India over the next three or four years,” Dasgupta stated. When quizzed about the rate at which the segment is growing, he reiterated that India was among the world’s most exciting and biggest emerging markets, and was home to over 1.2 billion people, of which 65 per cent were under the age of 35.
“The middle class is growing at a rapid rate and is predicted to be the largest consuming class by 2030. The Indian QSR market is expected to more than double to Rs 70 billion over the next three years, from Rs 34 billion in 2012-13,” Dasgupta said, adding that India had a great retail environment with the food services market estimated at Rs 2,47,680.
“Of this, branded chains comprise approximately 5.5 per cent of the total market. Moreover, the country has the second-largest highly-skilled labour force in the world (estimated to be roughly 487 million). In fact, about 90 per cent of the general managers at our restaurants are graduates,” he informed.
“Yum! Restaurants India, a subsidiary of Yum! Brand Inc, is one of the largest and fastest-growing restaurants company in the country. With more than 40,000 restaurants in over 130 countries and territories serving more than one million customers daily, it is also among the world's largest system restaurant companies,” Dasgupta said.
Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell are among the leaders in their respective segments. Yum! entered India in 1996 with the objective of growing its business to a billion-dollar company, with 1,000 stores across India and over 50,000 employees by 2015. India currently has over 301 KFC outlets, 290 Pizza Hut (dine-in and delivery) outlets and five Taco Bell restaurants.
“We are a responsible corporate brand committed to the community. Yum! Restaurants India and worldwide have hugely invested in hunger relief through the World Hunger Relief programme. Since its inception, this programme contributes on average $50 million worth of prepared meals to 3,000 hunger relief agencies across the country each year,” Dasgupta said.
“In addition, KFC also operates stores with specially-abled staff members in 21 outlets with over specially-abled 350 employees. Yum! Restaurants India has been awarded the 12th NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Awards for their contribution towards providing employment opportunities for specially-abled individuals at their stores,” he added.
Yum! Restaurants India’s training and development programme brings forth the company as an employer of choice, encouraging a talent-focussed culture promoting 360-degree employee growth. In addition, it has a competitive advantage with a strong infrastructure, a strong management team, a highly-skilled workforce and a menu that adapts to local tastes.
“The company was awarded the Food Supply Chain Company of the Year honour by Supply Chain Leadership Council, and the Coca-Cola Golden Spoon accolade in the Most Admired Food Service Retailer of the Year category was conferred upon KFC in 2011,” Dasgupta informed.
“Additionally, its dine-in brand, Pizza Hut, has been recognised as the Most Trusted Food Service Brand for seven consecutive years as per the Most Trusted Brands survey conducted by Brand Equity annually. KFC was also featured as the most trusted brand in the retail sector by the Brand Trust Report, India Study 2012,” he added.
Dasgupta said, “At Yum! Restaurants India, we are proud of the variety of products we offer. Our robust menu mix across brands caters to a large and evolving spectrum of consumer needs. Over the years we have been focussing on offering an unmatched value proposition to our customer across brands and we keep innovating in terms of our product portfolio.”
“Globally, our strategy is to offer balanced meal options to consumers, and over the years, each of our brands have introduced products that are lower in calories and fat. In India, we offer grilled chicken (fiery grilled) at KFC and vegetable salads and soups at Pizza Hut, amongst others,” he added.
“We believe that all food can be a part of a balanced diet and have made a lot of progress on our three pillars - more choice, more transparency and improvement of our ingredients. More choice emphasises on the wide range of products we offer; more transparency illustrates the comprehensive disclosure (on our websites and across our 500+ stores) of the nutritional content of our food products to help consumers make an informed choice, and the improvement of our ingredients refers to the use of more healthier options like corn, peas, and other vegetables,” Dasgupta explained.
“Our goal is to have 15% of our meals at one-third the recommended daily allowance in each country that we operate in by 2015, and increase that to 20% by 2020. Moreover, we believe in providing our customer with wholesome choices on the menu and are committed to procure the ingredients from the best quality suppliers available in the market,” he added.
When asked about how the industry was coping with the challenges it was facing, he added, “We are extremely optimistic about our growth potential. The Indian QSR industry has been growing at 30 per cent annually for the last three years, and it is expected to double at least over the next three years,” Dasgupta said.
“A large percentage of growth would be driven through rising consumer demand in non-metros and smaller towns and cities. Yum! has been rapidly expanding its footprint both in metros as well as in newer markets,” he added.
“We are also expanding our menu offerings and providing great value and taste through customised products,” Dasgupta said.
“Just this year, we have already launched our mid-priced range of Rockin Burgers with a specially created tri-pepper tangy spicy sauce suited to the Indian palate. We have several more launches planned in the coming year and are committed to providing quality products across price points to suit consumer demand,” he added.
“The annual spends on QSRs by middle-class households in tier-II markets are expected to surge by 150 per cent to Rs 3,750 per annum over the next three years. In comparison, the annual spends in tier-I cities are expected to increase by more than 60 per cent to about Rs 6,000 by 2015-16,” Dasgupta said.
Initially there were issues when we entered. However, with the opening up of economy and relaxation of foreign direct investment (FDI) we find this market very open to operate in. Although the food and drug regulations are not very well-defined, we have tasked ourselves with adhering to the strictest global norms,” he added.
“The business environment in India has seen a sea change from when we came and there are many positive changes happening year after year. We are very excited about India. it is our key growth market,” Dasgupta said.
“Across the world, we at Yum! believe in creating customised menus to suit local preferences, offering consumers a chance to experience the great taste of our offerings combined with familiar yet exciting new flavours,” he added.
Dasgupta said, “While India is a unique market in itself, a lot of our product innovations are designed to suit all sorts of preferences, be it a greater demand for vegetarian products or simply the diverse flavours of the Indian palate.”
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