The Hindu Business Line : Catering mogul eyeing Hyderabad, Bangalore

From a tea stall owner in Ahmedabad to a catering mogul, it has been a dream run for Mr Narendra Somani, who heads a Rs 25-crore catering services company.

The entrepreneur in Mr Somani seems to be unstoppable. His mission now is to expand to the IT hubs of Hyderabad and Bangalore, targeting the untapped catering services market.

He also plans to establish six five-star hotels in the country, the first of which will come up in Surat and house one of the largest convention centres.

FUNDING

How does he expect to fund this expansion plans? Mr Somani said that the company is in the process of firming up plans for an IPO that is likely to hit the market next year. Typically, each of the five-star hotels will entail an investment of Rs 50 crore.

Mr Somani, who was on a visit to Hyderabad, said catering that is an extremely fragmented industry and is slowly getting more organised.

At a time when outsourcing has emerged as the new mantra, allowing companies to focus on core competencies, enterprises are increasingly taking to outsourcing catering to specialised service providers.

`SEAMLESS SERVICE'

"Just look at the current scenario, where there is a need to cater to a gathering of 10,000-15,000 people at a time. There are very few who can provide end-to-end services to such a gathering. Having built a large team, we have the capability to offer services seamlessly," he said.

"All these years, the focus was on growing in Gujarat. But seeing the untapped potential in rapidly growing cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore, we have decided to begin with an exclusive catering house in Hyderabad, which will see an initial investment of about Rs 3 crore. In couple of months, we expect to enter Bangalore."

It is estimated that the catering industry is worth about Rs 50,000 crore and is growing at more than 20 per cent annually. But the fragmented nature of industry opens up new vistas for a service provider like The Grand Bhagwati.

The Ahmedabad-based Bhagwati Banquets and Hotels Ltd has a long list of corporate clients, including Reliance Industries, Honda Motors, IOC, BPCL, HPCL, and the Essar group.

"You just have to experience our hospitality to understand us better," he says with a smile.

More Stories on : Strategy | Hotels | Foods & Food Processing | Andhra Pradesh

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