With dine-in witnessing strong resurgence, the expansion plans of restaurant chains are back on track. The industry, which was hit hard during the past two years due to the pandemic, has been witnessing a wave of “revenge consumption” in the past few months, enabling them to plan aggressive expansion.

The pandemic had particularly hit the casual dining and fine-dining restaurants segment hard. However, many players in these segments, are now back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of revenues.

Priyank Sukhija, MD & CEO, First Fiddle Restaurants, which runs over 30 restaurants, said: “The Covid hit the entire hospitality sector hard, but we’re making efforts to negate the losses and expand rapidly to meet the demand generated through what I like to call, ‘revenge partying’.”

“Apart from reopening all our past outlets, we also added Bougie, Miso Sexy, and Butter Room earlier this year, and are ready to launch Noche this week and Tickled Pink by the end of this month. I do believe we are now getting back on track, and even the industry is ready to start growing again,” he added.

Riyaaz Amlani, CEO & MD, Impresario Handmade, had earlier told BusinessLine that the company has earmarked nearly ₹100 crore for expansion to increase its total restaurant count from the current 61 to 140 over the next five years. “Currently, we have 33 outlets under the brand SOCIAL and we plan to grow it to 100 outlets in the next five years. So, we are looking at adding 12-15 new outlets of SOCIAL every year and about 2-3 new outlets of Smoke House Deli, “ he added.

Specialty Restaurants, the restaurant chain that operates brands such as Mainland China and Oh ! Calcutta, is also ramping up the number of outlets and cloud kitchens. Anjan Chatterjee, Chairman & MD, Specialty Restaurants, said the company plans to add 4-5 new restaurants across key brands in the next 18 months, besides ramping up its network of cloud kitchens. 

The QSR chains, which gained during the pandemic through their delivery models, are also bullish on the dine-in resurgence.

Sid Marchant, Co-founder, Good Flippin’ Burgers, said: “Dine-in formats gives our patrons a “fuller experience” of our brand, and forms an integral part of our growth and brand strategy. We are currently at 17 outlets across Mumbai & NCR. We will be on course to achieve and go beyond our target of 24 stores this financial year. Going forward, we plan to open 2.5 outlets a month across Mumbai, NCR, Pune & Bengaluru in cloud, dine-in, mall and airport formats.”

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