South-Indian cuisine chain, Sagar Ratna, which has in the past been in the news for promoter–investor squabbles, is now looking to grow its presence in the Western and Eastern regions.

The chain currently has over 90 restaurants, a mix of company- and franchise-owned outlets, with a significant presence in the Delhi-National Capital Region.

Closures, additions Murali Krishna Parna, Chief Executive Officer, Sagar Ratna, said the expansion comes after a phase of consolidation.

“In the past three years, we have been focusing on putting up an efficient managerial and financial structure in place. We decided to close down 21 restaurants, but at the same time continued adding new restaurants. We are now in the black,” he added.

Parna said the company was next looking to take the brand to the Western and Eastern regions.

“We are looking to add about 15-18 outlets every year in cities, such as Mumbai, Nasik, Pune in the West. In the East, we will first look at Kolkata. We are also looking to go deeper North with focus on States, such as Rajasthan and Bihar,” he said.

Home delivery segment The company, which has a turnover of about ₹70 crore, hopes to invest about ₹10-12 crore in the chain annually to strengthen not only its existing outlets but also add new ones. “In the past one year, we have also been focusing on growing the home delivery segment to increase business. We are putting in our resources behind this and have also collaborated with various food tech companies. We have seen a huge growth in our take-away and home delivery business in just the past one year, which now contributes about 29-30 per cent to our sales,” Parna added.

The company has also started piloting direct online ordering through few of its outlets which, it hopes, to expand to all its restaurants in the next six months.

Parna said given the brand recall among Indian diaspora, the chain could in the next one year also look at taking it international.

Related Topics