Kolkata-based café chain What’sUp!Cafe has acquired a 40-year-old restaurant, Café de France, in Dallas, Texas, USA, at an estimated $2 million (about ₹16.5 crore). It plans to open five more outlets in the US over the next five years, entailing an investment of around $10 million.

Café de France will be renamed Café de France by What’s Up Café. The full-service restaurant-cum-café serves both French and American favourites and can seat 150.

What’sUp!Café, set up by Anamika Sengupta, Debraj Dey and Anirban Sengupta, is a popular hangout for young adults.

According to Dey, the company decided to expand in the international market as it felt that the Indian hospitality sector was under-represented in these markets.

Global over local

“We started in 2015 and it has been a fruitful journey for us, so far. When we thought about expanding our footprint we wanted to go for the international route instead of opening outlets within the country. We plan to open our restaurant chain in San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and New York over the next five years,” Dey told BusinessLine.  

What’sUp Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of What’sUp!, has been formed for the group’s international business. The funding for the acquisition was organised through loans and equity contributions by the partners. For the next few years, the group intends to use the 100 per cent wholly-owned route for funding.

“The sheer size of the economy, access to the world’s largest consumer market, simpler regulatory environment, and an overall ambience conducive to entrepreneurship are the main reasons in selecting USA for our first major expansion. We found the American environment as extremely business-friendly. It is probably one of the best countries to start a new business as the rules are transparent and process-oriented, which substantially facilitates business processes,” he said.

Quick service outlets

What’sUp Group, which opened the quick-service restaurant (QSR) 99, on the lines of Dollar stores and Euro stores, over two years ago, plans more outlets in Kolkata, first in high-traffic areas and, later, malls.

“The 99 restaurant is a QSR format and provides affordable dining to people. We currently have only one such outlet in the city and we plan to open 50 outlets over the next two years. Some of these would be through franchisee route,” he said.

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