Future Group’s food vertical, Foodhall, which opened its second outlet in the capital feels the concept of making exotic food locally available is here to stay.
Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani had launched Foodhall in 2011. He realized that Indians were comfortable with the idea of spending on gourmet and organic products once while holidaying in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Biyani after visiting the store owned by Julian Amery, a former chef-turned-shopkeeper selling organic certified food products, was offered Indian tea by Amery, who asked him what he did.
Biyani told him that he was shopkeeper. Weeks later, Amery got an email from his “shopkeeper” customer, wanting to know if he wanted to set up shop in India by partnering Biyani’s venture.
Amery is among several exclusive vendors who are selling stuff through the Foodhall and Biyani says that the collaboration was done by Foodhall in its promise to offer the best from across the globe to its customers.
In an interview with Business Line , Avni Biyani, (24) Concept Head, Foodhall, says the company is looking to woo more ‘experimenting’ Indians into its fold. Edited excerpts:
What is contributing to growth in the gourmet segment?
Indian consumers, like their counterparts elsewhere, are getting exposed to finer nuances of food. For us, this is a huge window of opportunity.
We have five stores up and running and will be opening the sixth soon. On a year-on-year basis, we have been witnessing a 35-40 per cent growth.
What kind of stock-keeping units do you have and what is the most popular?
We have over 6,000-7,000 stock-keeping units. If we go purely by cuisine, Italian, Chinese and Japanese, among others, are hugely popular among Indian consumers.
How big are your stores and what investments have you earmarked?
Our stores vary from 10,000 sq ft to 45,000 sq ft. While we cannot divulge the investment numbers, we will be mostly operating in this size. We will not go less than 5,000 sq ft, as it will not be economical. Also, the products that we would like to showcase, such as a live bakery and fresh fruit bay, will not be possible in a smaller area.
Some new sourcing norms have been worrying retailers, as they prohibit import of certain products. Are you also facing problems?
Yes, it is a major source of concern, as our import consignments have been badly hit. Certain norms are making imports of popular products, such as cheese and chocolates, almost impossible. The festival season was hit as a certain brand of chocolates could not make it to the shelves for almost three months. We have made representations through trade bodies to look into the concerns of legitimate importers. The Indian consumer has evolved and demands certain quality.
Are there any indications of revenues from your food business?
We are looking at a revenue of Rs 125 crore to Rs 200 crore for FY15. The growth will be largely from customer acquisition. We always work in a catchment model, which means wherever there is a high expat population or higher income households, we set up stores there.
So, Foodhall is largely metro-centric…
Currently, our focus is only on the top satellite cities. Gourmet format is an expensive business to build as it has high capex requirements.
bindu.menon@thehindu.co.in