Casual dining chain Chili’s American Grill & Bar is set to expand its presence in South India.
With over eight years of presence in India, the Dallas-headquartered company has 10 restaurants in the South and eight in the North, with the former region, along with Western India, boasting of company-owned-and-operated outlets.
“Mumbai and Bengaluru are the leading markets in the region. We already have three restaurants in each of the cities, and to leverage the traction we are getting here, we plan to add two more in each of them,” said Ashish Saxena, the Chief Executive Officer of TexMex Cuisine India, the company that owns and operates Chili’s American Grill & Bar in India.
With plans to launch one restaurant in Chennai this year, the company’s restaurant tally in South and West India will touch 15 restaurants, across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune.
“Each restaurant is set up at an investment of Rs 4-5 crore, and on an average, we are able to churn Rs 7-8 crore in revenues from each restaurant,” Saxena told DH.
As the Indian market picks up, the company is continuously investing in its operations here. Up to 98% of its ingredients and raw materials are sourced locally, which is a substantial increase, compared with 60%, three years ago.
“For instance, the company sources cheese from a plant in Pune, and this cheese and made specifically for Chili’s as per our taste and standard requirements,” he said.
“In the F&B business, the gross margin is around 60%, so driving sales is more important than controlling costs. We have achieved over 28% CAGR during the past two years. Multiple efforts, including new menu items, reinvigorating service training and refurbishment of stores have led to this sales growth,” he said, adding, “We have implemented a company wide ERP (enterprise resource planning) that is integrated with our POS (point of sale) systems and materials management. This enabled us to track ideal versus actual food variance and bring focus in managing the food costs.”
The ERP model has helped the company save up by reducing costs by up to 2.5%, he said.
