Jubilant FoodWorks wants to sell more than donuts

Meenakshi Verma Ambwani Updated - March 12, 2018 at 02:37 PM.

Jubilant FoodWorks (JFL), which runs Domino's Pizza stores in India and has just introduced the American doughnut brand ‘Dunkin' Donuts' in the country, wants to sell more than just the sugary baked snack.

It wants to also sell the coffee that the doughnuts are ‘dunked' in.

Mr Ajay Kaul CEO, JFL, said they were gearing up to battle it out in the coffee chain segment as well.

“We plan to make a capital expenditure of Rs 10-12 crore to open 10 stores this fiscal year in the Delhi-NCR region,” he said.

Branded as ‘Dunkin' Donuts & More', JFL opened its flagship store in New Delhi on Tuesday.

JFL had stuck an alliance with the American brand last year to bring the baked goods and coffee chain to India.

The company said it has already invested about Rs 9 crore to establish the state-of-the-art factory and back-end processes.

Mr Hari S. Bhartia, Co-chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd said, “The brand is extremely relevant for India due to its iconic status in coffee and doughnuts but also due to its differentiated menu.

We would be experimenting with different kind of formats to chalk out the future expansion strategy.” The stores will be in the range of 350 sq feet to 2,500 sq feet.

He added that after Delhi-NCR region, the company could next look at expanding the chain in Mumbai. The company expects to open 80-100 stores in the next five years. Just like the Dominos' stores, JFL would own all its stores under ‘Dunkin' Donuts & More'.

Asked if the company is looking to expand with another brand, Mr Bhartia said, “We will focus on building the Dunkin' Donuts brand for now and scale it up.”

The company has tweaked the menu to suit the Indian palette with a range of sandwiches and milk shakes which are not traditionally found in the chain's international menu.

A host of international restaurant chains are entering the country. Starbucks Coffee Company stuck a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages Ltd in January and plans to launch 50 stores.

>meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

Published on May 8, 2012 09:23