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N. Ramakrishnan

Cookie Man is still discussing on how to expand its network — adopt the franchisee route or go in for a mix of franchisee operations and company-owned shops.

Chennai , Sept. 19

COOKIE Man Foods India Pvt. Ltd hopes to have at least 50 shops across the country selling its cookies in the next three to four years. At present, it has four shops in Chennai and three in Bangalore, with some more planned in these two cities besides in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The company expects its investment to be of the order of Rs 7.5 crore over the next three years, with the money coming in as equity from the three partners in the joint venture — Cookie Man Pty Ltd of Australia, which holds a 35 per cent stake, and Paracor, an investment company in the US, and Mr S.B.P. Pattabhi Rama Rao, who is also the company's chief operating officer, holding the balance.

Mr Rao told Business Line on Wednesday that the Indian company got restructured last year when he took an equity stake in it. The present equity of the company stands at Rs 2.5 crore.

Cookie Man is still discussing on how to expand its network — adopt the franchisee route or go in for a mix of franchisee operations and company-owned shops. At present, it has one company-owned shop, the first it started, in Chennai, and three franchisee operations in Food World outlets in Chennai.

In Bangalore, the three outlets are franchisee-run — one in a Food World store, and the other two in Kemp Fort and Bangalore Club. By the end of the year, it hopes to open a shop in The Forum, a shopping mall coming up in Koramangala.

According to Mr Rao, Cookie Man is also targeting three or four shopping malls in Delhi, one in Mumbai and another in Hyderabad to open its shops.

Along with the restructuring, the company has seen a jump in turnover from Rs 60 lakh two years ago to Rs 1.25 crore last year and an expected figure of Rs 3.5 crore this year.

According to him, Cookie Man is the sole supplier of cookies to Barista Coffee Company Ltd for its outlets throughout the country, to Café Coffee Day in Chennai, and to major hotels like the Taj Coromandel, the two Sheraton hotels in Chennai, and GRT Grand. By the end of the year, the company hopes to tie-up with all the major hotels in Chennai, including the remaining Taj group hotels, to supply cookies.

The corporate clients, or what is called the private label business, started in January and is expected to contribute to about 25 per cent of turnover this year, going up to 50 per cent next year. However, over time, with the number of shops increasing, the corporate client business is expected to contribute to about 10 per cent of turnover.

Mr Rao said that the company had just introduced dry fruits dipped in chocolate, for the festive season. Besides, it had also come out with attractive gift packages — boxes and cartons — designed by a Mumbai-based designer, both for corporate clients and also to be sold at its outlets.

With the expansion planned, the company had increased its office space from 1,800 sq.ft. to about 6,000 sq.ft. The dough for the cookies is mixed at the office and supplied to the shops. For those shops outside Chennai, Cookie Man has tied-up with a cold chain supplier, Snowman, so that the dough is frozen and transported to Bangalore. The dough has to be thawed and then baked. This ensured that the cookies in all the shops tasted the same.

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