Popular American multinational chain of fried chicken restaurants, #Popeyes open its first restaurant in Delhi. #JubilantFoodWorks
Watch Sesa Sen in conversation with the MD & CEO Sameer Khetarpal.
For the latest news and updates, visit: ndtvprofit.com
Watch Sesa Sen in conversation with the MD & CEO Sameer Khetarpal.
For the latest news and updates, visit: ndtvprofit.com
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TVTranscript
00:00 Jubilant Foodworks Limited has launched the iconic US fried chicken brand, Popeyes in Delhi.
00:06 This marks the debut of the brand in the Delhi NCR region.
00:11 And I am joined by Samir Khetarpal, the MD and CEO of Jubilant Foodworks.
00:16 Thank you so much, sir, for taking the time.
00:18 Tell us, what are your first thoughts? Why did you choose Chandni Chowk?
00:22 So, firstly, I'm delighted to bring Popeyes to Dilwalo ki Delhi.
00:28 And the heart of Delhi is Chandni Chowk. It is the melting pot of cultures, food, fusion.
00:35 And this is where I think the heart of Delhi, Delhi-6.
00:38 So is Popeyes from Louisiana, the bold Cajun flavors.
00:43 New Orleans is also the melting pot of cultures in many ways for the US.
00:49 So, it's a culture amalgamation of two very distinct cultures.
00:53 I'm so delighted that the first store in North India or in Delhi is actually in Delhi-6.
01:00 Alright, so talking about the expansion of Popeyes, you're currently at 33 stores, if I'm not wrong?
01:07 Yes, we are in 33 stores. This is the 11th city. And we are going to rapidly expand.
01:14 We've gone on record in saying that Popeyes will be India's fastest QSR to get to 1000 crores and we are well on track.
01:24 Okay, fastest QSR to reach 1000 crores and is there a timeline by when do you expect to...
01:30 Yes, in the next four years we should get there. And I think the teams have done a phenomenal job of executing in India.
01:36 The bold Cajun flavors, bringing it to India.
01:40 There are four things which are distinct that allows us to differentiate.
01:45 Number one being we use fresh chicken. The chicken that we use is directly sourced by us.
01:53 It is marinated in state of the art plants.
01:56 Second is the Louisiana style bold Cajun flavors are very palatable to India.
02:01 Third, we have a very unique breading and frying process.
02:05 And fourth, we have in fact enhanced the consumer proposition and the taste of India by launching products like Hot and Messy.
02:15 And also we have amazing products for vegetarians.
02:19 Alright, also in terms of the number of stores, how many stores do you plan to open in the next say 12 months?
02:26 Also your plans in the Delhi NCR region, how many stores are likely to come up say in the next couple of months?
02:32 So as we speak, we are building four stores in Delhi NCR.
02:36 They should be coming up live in the next seven to ten days.
02:40 Equally, we had given a guidance of 30 to 50 stores for this financial year.
02:46 This is the 33rd store for under construction.
02:49 So clearly we believe we are on track.
02:52 In the next four years, we want to get to 1,000 crores and with to about 250 stores.
02:57 Alright, so let's talk about the macroeconomic environment a little bit.
03:03 So discretionary slowdown is something that we all know.
03:07 Even if you look at your other business, that is the pizza category that has seen a slowdown and it is reflected in the earnings of Q3.
03:15 Also today morning, the retail sales data from Retailers Association of India has come which says that the QSR industry as a whole has grown just 9% in January compared to the previous year.
03:26 So what is your view on the consumer sentiments and when do you expect a reverse to take place?
03:35 Yeah, I think there is a consumer slowdown.
03:39 That goes without saying.
03:41 However, in such times, it is important for companies like us to innovate faster.
03:49 And we are doing four things from our side.
03:52 Number one, as you all know that we have relaunched our brand in Domino's.
03:57 It happens only with pizza.
03:59 And the objective behind that is to win occasion share from when consumers are eating.
04:07 As you would know, India is a $50 billion market of food services and QSR is only $5 billion.
04:14 Two-third of the market is unorganized.
04:17 So we have to win more occasions. An average Indian eats pizza only thrice in a year out of 1000 times that a consumer may eat.
04:26 So that is one. It happens only with pizza.
04:28 Number two is to our delivery is growing.
04:33 Delivery is like for like positive.
04:35 And we are putting more impetus behind by launching 30 to 20, 20-minute delivery.
04:42 We want to be the fastest and give you the pizza in your hand.
04:46 Third is we have expanded our teams.
04:51 We have far more store rigor and we are going from four regions to seven regions.
04:55 And finally, we have to do more menu innovation to give more value to consumers.
05:01 So all four things are track.
05:03 Hopefully, sooner than later, we will be positive like for like growth.
05:07 All right. And in terms of your delivery approach in the pizza business,
05:12 are you going to follow a similar approach for the Popeyes brand as well in terms of strengthening your delivery channel?
05:19 Yes, I think the delivery channel is here to stay and grow.
05:22 Popeyes was the again within the Popeyes world.
05:25 It was the India was the country to launch not only with the first store, not the first store with its own app.
05:34 Popeyes has a very well functioning own app.
05:36 As you can see, the store has chaos. You can do self ordering.
05:40 We all stores are enabled with this own biker fleet.
05:44 We are available on aggregators and we plan to do our own delivery.
05:48 How soon do you plan to do that?
05:50 We're already on one of the aggregators. We're already doing our own delivery on the others.
05:53 We have very soon I think within within this quarter, we should be able to move to our own delivery.
05:58 All right. So also one more thing. Do you believe that this expansion in the chicken space,
06:03 we have also seen your other competitors also expanding in this space.
06:07 Do you think this would plug gaps in this in terms of the slowdown that we are seeing in the pizza category?
06:13 This would make up for that slowdown in the other business.
06:17 So firstly, it is not that Indians are eating more burgers or chicken versus pizza.
06:25 I don't think there is in general. Yes, there is a slowdown in QSR, but it is not one category versus the other.
06:31 In fact, Indians are eating more Indian food.
06:33 So the share of QSR within the overall or share of the share of QSR in the overall food services market is very small.
06:42 So the job for QSR and a leading QSR like us is to grow the share and penetrate more.
06:48 That's what pizzas are doing. I'm very confident about it.
06:51 Of course, Popeye is given the small size versus Domino's is going to be our speedboat for growth.
06:58 How do you view the competition because this is becoming a very crowded space,
07:03 not only because of the large global players, but also because of the several artisanal pizza brands also coming up.
07:12 How do you view the competition and what sets you apart from the competition?
07:16 So firstly, for Domino's, when it comes to 49 rupee pizza or a 1099 rupee gourmet pizza with Bocconcini cheese and zucchini and red bell peppers,
07:30 I think we are all there. So a consumer can come into Domino's, wants to celebrate and indulge in a gourmet pizza
07:39 or tighten the purse strings and conserve cash and eat a 49 rupee pizza from one store, one is delivered in 20 minutes.
07:48 So I think that is one piece that I want to show you that from playing the full price piano, we are there.
07:56 In fact, competition is good. At a 2500 rupee per capita GDP income, the QSR industry is only poised to grow.
08:06 India is going to be a next growth story of this century. So I think competition is good and this party is only beginning now.
08:15 Alright, my last two questions and this is on the Popeyes brand itself.
08:19 One is on the expansion, you did mention about 50 stores guidance, but I would like to know,
08:25 you began with the South, Southern market, now you are here in North and what next?
08:30 Would you be entering the West or is it the Eastern market?
08:34 Fundamentally, we move region by region because you have to build the fresh chicken supply chain,
08:41 chilled chain, frozen chain, you have to get a network of stores to train the crew.
08:46 So we are focusing on North India at the moment. As we speak, we are beginning to look at West too and then East also.
08:53 So obviously in a period of two to three years, we will expand to all tier one, tier two, tier three cities in India, tier one and two cities in India.
09:01 Alright, and lastly, any CapEx plan do you have for the brand store expansion and overall also CapEx plan?
09:08 Is there a number in mind that you can share?
09:10 Yeah, so I think we are in a heavy CapEx investment cycle to plan for the future.
09:16 And specifically, as you know, we recently opened our Bangalore food factory,
09:22 which is state of the art food factory serving all our brands.
09:26 This is the second food factory and we are building the third one near Mumbai.
09:32 We did the groundbreaking of that a couple of months ago.
09:35 So it is going to be 600 to 700 range of our CapEx and that's what we are,
09:41 that should cover up for us for not only store opening but for our back end commissaries also.
09:46 Alright, so 600 to 700 CapEx for FY25?
09:49 Yes, we should be in the similar region.
09:51 Alright, sir. Thank you so much for speaking with us. It was a pleasure talking to you.
09:56 Thank you, sir. Good luck.
09:57 Thank you.
09:59 [End]