The company opened its 35th restaurant, Lady Baga, a casual dining restaurant modelled on a Goan beach shack, in Bengaluru, last Sunday.
Goan ambience
“The success of SodaBottleOpenerWala – we have eight across the country today – gave us the confidence to open Lady Baga, which is modelled on Goan beach shacks of the 1960s and 70s. These are happy and fun places, unique to India, quite unlike the beach shacks in Mauritius, Seychelles or Europe, which are extensions of the hotel,” AD Singh, Managing Director, Olive Bar and Kitchen Pvt Ltd, told BusinessLine.
The restaurant has sand, hammocks, a flea market, a watering hole and a screen across the restaurant projecting life on the beach.
The 17-year-old company has been growing its revenue at 35 per cent year-on-year, and has notched up nearly ₹200 crore in revenue.
Expansion target
“As a company, our target is to hit 100 restaurants in five years at a capex of ₹30 crore to ₹40 crore a year. So, its Mission 100 that’s starting soon. We are trying to build long-term value for our company, and hope to go public within the next five years,” said Singh. The company has invested over ₹100 crore in its restaurants so far.
Singh said the plan is to open products that can scale pan-India. “We will open 10-20 of each restaurant brand across the top 10 cities in this five-year period. We are not looking at tier-2 cities; we are looking at Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Noida, Goa, Kolkata, Chandigarh and maybe one of the cities in Rajasthan.”
Growth drivers
The growth drivers over the next five years for the company are: SodaBottleOpenerWala, Fatty Bao and Olive Café (still on the drawing board).
When asked how many restaurants the company had shut down since inception, Singh said: “We keep assessing our brands periodically, we will exit those which don’t have the potential to scale up. Last year, we sold off the French Bistro in Delhi. And we have closed three restaurant brands – Guppy by ai, a Japanese restaurant after seven years, Lap, a nightclub after six years and Olive Diplomat after eight years – for multiple reasons such as high rentals, difficult neighbours and unsuitable location.”
The company’s restaurant brands include Olive Bar and Kitchen, Olive Beach, Olive Bistro, Fatty Bao, Monkey Bar, Toast & Tonic, SodaBottleOpenerWala, Lady Baga, Hello Guppy, Ek Bar and The Hoppery.
