South Africa-headquartered, $1.8-billion restaurant chain Nando’s has decided to make direct investments to the tune of $10 million (about ₹64 crore) to open 10 company-owned restaurants over the next 12 months in India.
Known world over for its flame-grilled Peri-Peri chicken, Nando’s has grown its footprint to eight restaurants in Delhi, Punjab, Chennai and Bengaluru, since its entry into India in 2010.
“As part of our global re-alignment on strategy, Nando’s is investing directly in five geographies – the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa and India. After buying back the master franchise in India, we are in the process of buying back the sub-franchisees and at present we have a mix of company owned, joint venture and franchisee partnerships.”
“However, the long-term goal over the next 3-5 years is to be able to own all restaurants. We will be investing $10 million in opening 10 new company-owned restaurants, majority of them in existing locations and Mumbai, Pune thereafter,” Sumeet Yadav, CEO, Nando’s India, told BusinessLine .
The first company-owned 4,000 sq ft restaurant will open in Bengaluru in December.
“We are developing restaurant clusters in order to leverage our supply chain better with four new restaurants in Delhi which already has three restaurants; two more in Chennai where we have two already; one in Punjab and three more in Mumbai and Pune,” said Yadav.
The company spent $500,000 on research to figure out what Indians prefer, what Nando’s means to them, etc, and came up with a global-first, all-vegetarian menu with 35 options including salads, appetisers, burgers, espetadas, mocktails and desserts. Nando’s serves Afro-Portuguese cuisine and counts 18-35-year-olds as its primary target group.
A 29-year-old brand, Nando’s has 1,400 restaurants across five continents.