Ajanta Pharma plans to invest over Rs 100 crore to expand Wok Express

NEW DELHI: The family behind Ajanta Pharma plans to invest over Rs 100 crore to expand its quick-service restaurant business Wok Express, expanding its presence in Mumbai and making an entry in four places, including New Delhi and Bengaluru.

So far, the company has invested about Rs 6 crore on setting up and operating its five outlets in Mumbai, said director Aayush Agrawal, the son of Madhusudan Agrawal, one of the copromoters of Ajanta Pharma. Inspired by ‘Wok to Walk’, a restaurant in New York that allows customers to make their own Asian recipes, Wok Express will compete with Chinese restaurants such as Yo! China and other QSR brands.

Almost half its business comes from takeaway orders. For now, it will open 20 more outlets in Mumbai by 2017, investing about Rs 20 crore. Agarwal said it can take over four months to recover the cost of an outlet. After this, the company plans to set up 100 restaurants across Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.