Currently occupying a total retail space of 90,000 square feet, Jumbo King – the speciality fast-food retail chain from Mumbai – is preparing to establish a countrywide presence, thereby also taking the local flavour of vada pav to Indians all over.
Dheeraj Gupta, managing director, Jumbo King Foods Pvt. Ltd, told Indiaretailing, “Currently, we are present in Mumbai, Thane, Surat and Ahmedabad. We have also signed up properties in Baroda and Pune which will be operational in September.”
Presently, Jumbo King stores cover about 300 square feet each, wherein a customer can walk in and either parcel his vada pav or stand there and eat. The company plans to introduce large-format stores in the range of 500-800 square feet. Gupta informed, “By March 2008, we will be occupying 60,000 square feet of prime commercial space.”
Sharing details on what led the company to launch themselves outside Mumbai, Gupta explained, “Nearly 65 per cent of our customers are in the age group of 6-25 years. With our launch in Surat and Ahmedabad, we realised that in Mumbai vada pav is eaten as an everyday affair, while in other cities, it is more of a fun food. The difference will be that Mumbai with a population of 1.5 crore will have 200 Jumbo King stores, while Delhi with a similar population will support 50.”
On the proposed expansion, Gupta said, “We are looking at 120 stores by March 2008, and have in mind even cities in the South zone including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mysore and Mangalore. We will be entering Delhi, Noida and Chandigarh in December 2007. By March 2010, we are looking at 500 stores in over 60-75 cities and towns in the country.”
The large-format stores will be in a restaurant format and the noticeable difference from their existing express stores (smaller format stores) will be in the availability of seating. On the investment front, Gupta said, “We are looking at an investment of Rs 15-20 lakh per store by the franchisees. In addition, we will be investing Rs 15-20 crore over the next three years in setting up the supply chain as well as the entire operations.”
– Zainab Morbiwala, Mumbai Bureau
