Jubilant FoodWorks announces new brand positioning

NEW DELHI: Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd (JFL), which holds the exclusive franchise rights of American pizza maker Domino’s in India, has said it will hike prices by 2-3% starting November this year because of inflationary pressures. The pizza maker’s last price hike was in June this year when it took up prices by about 3%.

The pizza maker has also announced a new brand positioning – ‘yeh hai rishton ka time’, steering away from its five-year-old ‘khushiyon ki home delivery’ tagline. The new positioning is more neutral and is in line with the company’s focus equally on home delivery and dine-in restaurants.

“JFL’s new positioning bodes well for growth since the general sentiment for discretionary spends also remains weak. We expect the proposed price hike to fully start impacting from Q4FY13,” financial services firm Edelweiss Securities wrote in a report this Friday.

JFL has already said it will hire 3,000-4,000 employees this financial year and add 100 new Domino’s stores. The company, which also operates the Dunkin’ Donuts chain of doughnuts and coffee in India, intends to set up 10 stores in the current fiscal.

In the July-September ’12 quarter, rival Yum Brands’ Pizza Hut reported 29% system sales, with 5% same store sales growth. “We expect JFL to be one of the best plays in consumer discretionary space…. and expect valuations to remain expensive given efficient execution, sharp expansion and innovation,” the Edelweiss report added.