The Hindu Business Line : Desi dosas score over pizzas

ARE lip-smacking butter chickens, tandoori items, dosas and idlis luring the desi consumer back from the pizzas and bread items of the Big Macs and other fast-food joints? Has "the breads and pizza business lost its novelty"?

Chennai's popular Saravana Bhavan is doing rollicking business in its first-ever outlet in the Capital and plans to set up two more in prime locations in Delhi by the first quarter in 2004, according to Mr S. Mahalingam, in-charge of the Delhi outlet. Similarly, Delhi's own foodie-retail chain Nirula's looks to enter the western, southern and eastern markets of the country by mid-2005. And this comes even as pizzerias are consolidating, shutting down unviable outlets and re-working business models, point out food sector analysts.

"The novelty factor with pizzas is certainly dying," observes Mr Vikas Attri, Technical Advisor, Nirula's Corner House Private Ltd.

According to him, while sales in pizzerias have hit a "plateau", food retail outlets dishing out Indian fares are growing at a healthy 15 per cent. And the reason? "Nirula's, for instance, offers more variety and choice to every member in the family — from ice-creams, pizzas, pav bhaji to a thali — as opposed to merely eating a bread or a pizza item."

The Rs 120-crore Nirula's only recently kicked in a Rs 90-crore investment plan to set up 100 restaurants in three years.

PizzaCorner's CEO Mr Anoop Sequeira does not quite agree that pizzas are losing out in the battle for the consumers' stomach. "Pizzas account for 70 per cent of the revenues in the three major fast-food chains. There is growth in the pizza business and consumer interest is constantly rekindled with new products, services, etc.".

PizzaCorner has clocked a 20 per cent growth in revenues, he points out. Having completed its consolidation process about 18 months ago, it too is "cautiously" expanding through the franchisee model, he said.

Mr Arvind Nair, Managing Director, Domino's Pizza India Ltd, says up to 35 per cent of the pizza toppings at Domino's are now Indian. "We began testing vegetarian, spicier and more aromatic toppings a couple of years back. We now have a reasonable mix of Indian and western toppings," he says. But international is not out, in that it continues to be popular among a set of consumers.

According to insights from consulting firm KSA Technopak, over 70 per cent Indian consumers prefer traditional Indian meals rather than so called `western' food. Yum! Restaurants International's Pizza Hut chain has a 50:50 mix of Indian and western toppings. And while the chain has Indianised to a large extent, Mr Pankaj Batra, Yum's Director (Indian Subcontinent), points out that the chain has been adding to the international range as well.

Meanwhile, McDonald's, too, has routinely tweaked its menu to suit Indian palettes.

"But with food-retail segments increasingly looking to market the `outing experience', besides the food, there is a market large enough for both multi-cuisine restaurants and specialised outlets," point out industry analysts.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Desi dosas score over pizzas

Toyota mulls launch at `Maruti 800 price'

Move to hike motor vehicle premiums — Lack of data hampers PSU insurers

Nursing ambitions? The US beckons

SEBI nod necessary for IDR issue

Rajasthan, Kerala top winter holiday spots