Its in addition to INR 12.5 crore it raised from PE firms NOW Foods and Elara Capital.
CybizCorp, the Indian franchise partner of Californian burger chain Carl’s Jr, plans to raise INR 125 crore, in tranches as it looks to scale up in the high-potential eating-out market across India.
This will be over and above the INR 12.5 crore, that it has already raised from private equity investors such as Delhi-based NOW Foods, which also has equity in franchisees of Boombox Cafe and Cafe OTB, and Elara Capital.
The country’s first Carl’s Jr store — which will sell burgers priced higher than McDonald’s — will come up in New Delhi in the next four-five weeks. “We will occupy the space between a Wendy’s and a Johnny Rockets and will keep a natural demographic distance between stores,” CybizCorp chairman and founder Sam Chopra said.
Carl’s Jr is positioning itself between a fine dine and quick service restaurant and will set up three-five stores this calendar year. It has set a target of scaling up to 100 stores over a period of five-seven years.
CybizCorp is a consulting, incubation and franchising firm with interests across real estate and food & beverage, and has exclusive franchisee tie-ups with restobars like Fork You, Cafe OTB, Bombox Cafe, Warehouse Cafe and Flying Saucer Cafe. Carls Jr is being set up by Cybiz BrightStar Restaurants, a subsidiary of CybizCorp.
California-based CKE Restaurants Holdings owns and licenses Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s quick-service restaurants with close to 4,000 stores globally.
Carl’s Jr’s signature products include chargrilled burgers, hand-breaded chicken and hand-scooped shakes. It is known for risque campaigns featuring the likes of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Recent months have seen a flurry of action in the burger space in the country. American chains Burger King and Wendy’s are in early stages of setting up stores in India, and relatively newer brands like Fatburger, Johnny Rockets and now Carl’s Jr are scaling up operations.
