This will increase its tally to 14, each new outlet costing USD 1 million.
Nando’s India, which currently runs eight restaurants in the country across Delhi, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Chennai, and Bengaluru, will be opening more restaurants until March 2016 — two in Bengaluru, three in Delhi and one in Chennai — each a 3,000-sq. ft. standalone format. The company will be investing over USD 1 million for each restaurant.
Nando’s has been a known player in the casual dining space in India, having run its business on a franchise model. A couple of years ago, it bought back its market from its franchisees, in a bid to re-emerge as a company-owned brand.
“Nando’s runs 1,300 restaurants in 27 countries, of which, only five markets — South Africa, Australia, the US, the UK, and India — have company-owned and run restaurants,” said Sumeet Yadav, CEO, Nando’s India.
The company saw promise in India’s fondness for spicy and varied cuisine from around the world, apart from the growing levels of income among urban people.
“In the last six months, we have spent around USD 500,000 on research to understand the Indian market, customer needs and the perception they have about our brand. We realised that they loved our chicken preparations, but needed fresh menus regularly, and asked for more vegetarian offerings as well,” Yadav said.
One of the most important areas that Nando’s laid immense focus on is a robust farm-to-fork supply chain. Nando’s specialises in Afro-Portuguese and grilled fare, and its most distinct flavour hums from the peri peri sauce. It is a very hot sauce made with red chilli peppers. The sauce, which is imported from South Africa, is an essential ingredient to spice its all-famous peri peri chicken.
“In the last six months, we spent USD 500,000 on research to understand the Indian market, customer needs and the perception they have about our brand.”
Similarly in India, the company has tied up with poultry suppliers — Suguna in Bengaluru and Alchemist in Chandigarh — to source its regular requirement of spatchcock chickens. “We share our sauces with the poultry facilities, where the chicken is marinated in the sauces for 24 hours, after which it is vacuum-tumbled, and supplied to us once in three days. We have also tied up with many suppliers for our vegetarian shopping list,” Yadav said.
The company is now scouting for a poultry supply chain in Western India, where six months from now, it plans to open restaurants in Mumbai and Pune.