Barbeque to go abroad; plans Rs 335 cr investment

NEW DELHI: Specialty restaurant chain Barbeque Nation will invest Rs 335 crore over the next three years for setting up 100 outlets in India and abroad.

"We introduced the brand almost an year ago with a restaurant in Mumbai and presently have four restaurants. The initial response to these four motivated us to go for an aggressive expansion for which we have earmarked an amount of Rs 335 crore spread over the next three years," Barbeque Nation CEO Prosenjit Roy Choudhury said.

The company would set up 50 restaurants over the next three years across all major cities in the country. "Once the brand is established in India, we will take it overseas. The company has already received trade enquiries from the UK," he said.

When asked about the competition in the market, he said: "Market is large enough to accommodate different kinds of restaurants. We don't think there is any competitor. The only challenge is to sustain for longer times."

"We operate on volumes. Our main targets are middle and upper-middle class families, which constitute a large section of the society," Choudhury added.

Barbeque Nation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sayaji Group, presently operates one restaurant each in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Gurgaon.

Choudhury said that the company is actively considering cities like Dubai, Mauritius, Sydney and Singapore for its overseas foray.

The company plans to set up the first 20 of the proposed 100 new restaurants within the current fiscal. It would set up 30 restaurants next year and the remaining 50 would come up in the last year of expansion, he added.

While Barbeque Nation restaurants in India would be completely owned by the Sayaji Group, the company is considering a franchisee model to set up its restaurants in the overseas market.

In the national capital, the company would come out with its first outlet in Janak Puri within the next two months. Choudhury informed that it would later set up another restaurant either in GK II or Defence Colony.

The company plans to fund the expansion through a mix of debt and internal accruals and public sector State Bank of India has already approved its term loans.

"The expansion would be funded primarily through internal accruals and debt. We are anticipating a top-line of Rs 371 crore by 2010 with as many as 100 restaurants operational," Choudhury said.