Casual dining restaurant chain Barbeque Nation is set to open its first international restaurant in Dubai within a fortnight as it sets out to operate stores in some of the countries in the Middle East and SAARC region.

It also plans to open in Colombo, Dhaka and Nepal soon.

Sameer Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer of Barbeque Nation Hospitality Limited, said, “The chain has had a fruitful journey over the past decade as it set out to popularise its restaurants with its casual dining format. We have thus far set up 72 restaurants across the country and are looking at further expand by setting up restaurants in the existing cities and new ones.”

All the company restaurants in India are company owned and operated.

‘Lighter’ sub brand

Speaking on the sidelines of the re-launch of its restructured Hyderabad restaurant, Samir Bhasin told BusinessLine that the company was also in the process of finalising plans for introducing its sub-brand Barbeque Nation Lite, aimed at addressing the requirements of a huge latent market in the Tier II and III cities.

“The format will be slightly different and smaller from Barbeque Nation chain and will be rolled out across several cities over the next 3-6 months,” he said.

Known for its do-it-yourself cuisine, to suit individual taste buds, it serves a range of Indian, American, Oriental and Mediterranean cuisines, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.

“We now have a chain of 72 restaurants, 23 of them in south India across eight cities. From our first outlet in Mumbai a decade ago, we have grown rapidly. We expect to add at least 10 more restaurants during the current financial year, while also introducing our new brand for Tier II-III cities during the year. Our plan is to take the number of outlets past the 100 mark by next financial year and to 300 by 2020,” Ritam Mukehrjee, Regional Manager South, Barbeque Nation, said.

The revamped Hyderabad outlet was launched by Priyadarshini Chatterjee, Miss-India Universe 2016, donning a chef’s hat.

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