Scripting a survival
Zee’s founding family plots a twist in the tale and stays in control
Exotic Arabian flavours will soon tickle the Indian palate, with the opening of the iconic brand Tikka & Kabab Ameen in the country to serve Bahraini cuisine.
The Bahrain-based restaurant chain, established in 1948, is set to open its outlets in India by mid-December as part of its Indian expansion.
Delivery disruption: Restaurants forced to serve differently
Backed by private equity firm Dividend Gate Capital in Bahrain, the restaurant chain has signed an MoU with the Kerala-centred PKS Hospitality to open nine outlets of Tikka & Kabab Ameen, with one in Kochi and the remaining in Bengaluru.
PKS Hospitality is a pan-India firm with a chain of restaurants, offering rail catering, IRCTC food courts and Tellichery Kitchen outlets. The company recently launched the country’s first national and international brands that are open 24 hours.
Joint venture model
Uday Mukundan, Vice-President (Operations), Dividend Gate Capital, told BusinessLine over phone from Bahrain that all the outlets will be on a joint venture model and the company has lined up investments worth ₹2 crore for each outlet which would be scaled up as per the requirement. “Initially we plan to focus on South India and later other areas by opening around 80 outlets in the first year, focussing on metros and Tier II cities.”
QSR chains to grow at 23% CAGR: Report
“Dividend Gate Capital and Tikka & Kabab Ameen are delighted to partner with PKS for their Indian expansion. PKS with its pan-India presence will help catapult the growth of the brand across all major cities in India”, he said.
Though the core menu is tikka and kababs, the outlets will offer a variety of breakfast dishes along with fresh bread out of the tandoor.
Mihraz Ebrahim, Managing Director, PKS Hospitality said that middle eastern cuisine is poised to take over India with health watchers on the rise, with the freshness of its ingredients and the simplicity of its preparations. Global brands are seeing the Indian market as an opportunity to expand their business, given the huge growth from road side corner to QSR outlets.
More health-conscious people are turning towards Arabic cuisines and the easing of Covid restrictions would increase footfalls in all food outlets in the coming days, he said.