Barcelos aims to reach over 25 outlets in next three years
Barcelos, the Indian unit of the South African casual dining restaurant chain, is targeting to complete more than 25 restaurants in next three years by opening five to six new restaurants in Tier I cities in 2018. The company is growing exponentially and has chains in cities like New Delhi, Jaipur and recently opened its doors in Hyderabad, as part of the expansion plan in India. Speaking to Food & Hospitality World on the current growth and investments plans, Rohit Malhotra, business head, Barcelos’ India operations, said, “Demonetisation did have some effect on the sales in the initial six months as people stopped going out. But there has been steady growth towards the end of the year. Restaurants in Mumbai, Chennai and Punjab are already in the line up for next year with some new locations identified in Pune, Kochi and Delhi. The brand will be investing 15-20 million to increase yearly sales to 25-30 per cent.”
A roof collapsing incident in New Delhi which led to the sealing of many restaurants has restricted the brand to invest in high street restaurants. Malhotra informed, “We have shifted our focus towards malls and the response has been great so far. A mall becomes a one-stop-shop and is best for family outings. We have smaller restaurants, but numbers are better as the places reaches out to the right audience.”
The casual dining restaurants will be introducing a new menu concentrating on authentic Portuguese flavours, catering to a predominantly vegetarian segment, which would cover about 40 per cent of the footfalls. Malhotra added, “The idea was to expand the number of dishes with the new international menu. We will not be going towards Indian flavours, but continue to offer international diversity. The new menu will also disclose some new innovative concepts and dishes for the Indian foodie.”
Barcelos also plans to enter the QSR format and have retail counters with sauces, nuts and wafers at display. Mentioning about the progress on the concept, he said, “We will only be looking into the QSR format post April 2018. While the current focus is on the new menu introduction, there is the idea of smaller menu for small format. These restaurants will feature only the USP products offered at relatively low prices.”