At the bustling Biggies Burger outlet in Chennai’s Nexus Vijaya Mall, burgers spiced with distinct flavours are flying off the grill. People seem to be particularly digging the Tandoori Chicken fillet burger, loaded with rich sauce and succulent grilled patties.

The founder of the chain, 34-year-old Biraja Prasad Rout, sits at one of the tables, and traces the origin of Biggies Burger back to 2011. What began as a small kiosk in Bengaluru has grown into a brand that aspires to a revenue of ₹100 crore this fiscal. It all started when Rout, a burger fan, used to commute 15 to 18 kilometres every time he craved an authentic one. Rout belongs to the camp that swears by grilled burgers rather than pan-fried or broiled. Tired of the ubiquitous fried patties, he set up his own kiosk for grilled burgers.

Also, in a space dominated by MNC giants that quickly adapted to the diverse palate of India, Biggies wanted to do something different: build a quintessentially Indian grilled burger QSR (quick service restaurant) instead of ‘Indianising’ its products to fit the market.

The right dressing

Emphasis on localisation, and offline, customer-centric branding were the two main factors in the brand’s growth, says Rout.

“From day one, we wanted to be a pan-India brand. Consumer behaviour changes across States, but we cannot localise the menu everywhere, as it would be difficult to scale up. The menu we have is designed to cater 80-90 per cent of the Indian population. It has to be standardised, while bringing diversification in the product segment,” he explains.

Biraja Prasad Rout, Founder, Biggies Burger

Biraja Prasad Rout, Founder, Biggies Burger

For Biggies, the goal is simple: to appeal equally to the taste buds of someone in, say, Chennai, Kolkata or Punjab. A central focus for the homegrown company is a crafted customer experience that it aims to achieve across its 130 outlets. Its target demographic is millennials and children, and those looking for nutritious, grilled burgers instead of the typically deep-fried burgers elsewhere.

The Biggies Vibe

All the Biggies outlets are defined by the bold white and yellow brand colours, centralised music and videos – it’s a uniform look at every store.

The chain’s strategy has been not to play around with pricing, but around product. Grilled patties are more a fine dine concept rather than QSR, stresses Rout.

On pricing, Rout believes that it is “a game of volume and right product pricing mapping.” As the company is trying to make specialty grilled burgers affordable for Indian consumers, the pricing is highly competitive in comparison to MNCs.

The tech savvy entrepreneur who has worked with IT major Infosys in the past also plans to integrate technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) in the outlets. From temperature-controlled counters to maintain the warmth of burgers, to auto-fryers that only need the cooking instructions fed via a touch screen, Biggie’s kitchens are all high on tech. Beyond saving staff time, these also ensure uniform temperature and taste for the products served.

Going forward, Rout wants to make convenience another big USP — plans are in place to build an in-house app and self-ordering kiosks.

In September 2022, Biggies, that started as a bootstrapped company, raised ₹5.5 crore in seed funding, which will be used to fuel expansion. For the short term, expansion in Tier-1 cities remains a prime goal.

Rout said, “We recently signed up a franchise in Singapore but for the next three years, we plan to concentrate on India. We expect Tier-1 cities to be a ₹400 crore market, so this will be a primary focus.”

Only one Biggies outlet is company-owned and company-operated. Fourteen are franchise-owned and franchise-operated outlets, and the rest are franchise-owned, company-operated outlets. According to Mithun Ponnusamy, Tamil Nadu Master Channel Partner for Biggies Burger, the response in Chennai, where the brand has four outlets, has been good, because customers are looking for a “new taste.”

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