As pizzas capture Indian consumers fancy, the US-based fast-food Italian restaurant brand Sbarro is looking to make its second innings in India successful with the right kind of pricing, products and positioning.
The brand, which had entered India in 2007, had terminated its joint venture in 2010. This time round, it has formed an alliance with three different master franchisees to focus on various geographies.
Jyoti International Foods (JIFPL) is the Master Franchisee of Sbarro for North and East India. Akhil Puri, CEO, JIFPL, told BusinessLine the company is looking to establish about 40 Sbarro outlets in North and East India over the next five years. Each outlet will involve an investment of ₹1.5-2 crore for dine-ins and ₹70 lakh for smaller food court formats.
JIFPL, a firm engaged in the food supply chain/cold chain sector, started its services in 2003 as a Subway franchisee and launched its distribution and logistics services in 2005. Its clientele includes Subway, Chili’s, Krispy Kreme, and Starbucks, among others.
Puri said while most pizza chains in India are focusing on the home delivery model, Sbarro will largely be focusing on the dine-in model. “We see considerable growth happening in the dine-in space hence we are bullish on it as model. We will be selling pizzas by slice with lot of innovation on flavours. We aim to build a connect with our customers by promoting the "My Life My Slice”.
He also added that the company will be sourcing a chunk of ingredients locally to cut costs and reduce import dependence.
On pricing, Puri said Sbarro has been rather cautious with its pricing and has kept affordability in mind while dictating prices. “A slice of Sbarro will cost ₹49. We will have three variants — thin crust, pan friend and rolled pizza”.
The pizza market size is estimated at ₹2,000 crore.
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