The Hindu Business Line : Fast food chain Jumbo King plans 500 outlets by March 2010

Enthused with the response and brand name it has been able to generate in the last six years, the Mumbai-based fast food chain Jumbo King Foods Pvt Ltd is moving fast. It plans to open about 500 food joints across the country by March 2010 to increase its turnover ten-fold to the tune of Rs 200 crore.

Of these, 120 fast food joints will be opened by March 2008, including 20 in Gujarat, its Managing Director Mr Dheeraj Gupta told Business Line here today.

The chain, started in August 2001, currently has 30 outlets in Mumbai, selling 40,000 vada pavs priced affordably between Rs 8 and Rs 16 apiece.

In Ahmedabad and Surat, where Jumbo King started four joints in two days, it has introduced four new products, not available even in Mumbai, at present. Mr Gupta said emerging Indian food brands have already become subject of case studies in some business schools.

Jumbo King is following an exclusive franchisee model with networking and stringent quality control.

With a one-time investment of Rs 15-18 lakh, the franchisee can clock an annual revenue of nearly Rs 40 lakh, breaking even in the first three to four months. Jumbo King is not setting up any company-owned stores as the franchisee stores tend to break-even faster, he said.

The company is also in talks with public and private sector companies such as the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd and GVK Industries Ltd, for opening outlets at railway stations and airports, and also with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd for kiosks at petrol pumps along the highways.

With more outlets being opened, the company is planning to set up zonal hubs to cater to the supply needs in a radius of 400 km each, tie up with storage facilities and transportation needs along the whole value chain.

Supply chain

To strengthen its supply chain and other logistics such as central kitchens in major cities, the company has tied up with potato suppliers from Uttar Pradesh to procure the tuber at a constant price of Rs 7.30 per kg round-the-year as the chain requires 60,000 kg of potato per month (7.20 lakh kg per annum) for its Mumbai operations alone.

Similarly, the company has tied up with the Indore-based indenting agents for its current annual requirement of 180 tonnes of gram flour. With its expansion plans being rolled out, the company is following a backward integration. Jumbo King would soon be entering into tie-ups directly with farmers leading into contract farming for supply of potato and gram, among others.