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McDonald’s franchisee plans 750-cr expansion
Westlife Development Limited (WDL), which operates a chain of McDonald’s restaurants in western and southern India through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited (HRPL), is gearing up to double the count of its McDonald’s outlets with an investment of Rs 750 crore in the next five to six years.
Lines up AP foray; to double outlets in western, southern India from current 223
Hyderabad: Westlife Development Limited (WDL), which operates a chain of McDonald’s restaurants in western and southern India through its subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited (HRPL), is gearing up to double the count of its McDonald’s outlets with an investment of Rs 750 crore in the next five to six years.
The BSE-listed company which currently operates 223 restaurants across 29 cities is also planning to make a foray into Andhra Pradesh in next 15 months. The WDL is the master franchisee for US-based McDonald’s Corporation in western and southern parts of the country and has been setting up the quick service restaurants (QSRs) on its own.
“Our plan is to have 400-500 outlets in the next five to six years. The expansion requires investment to the tune of Rs 750 crore and we will fund it through internal accruals,” Amit Jatia, Vice-Chairman, WDL, told media here on Wednesday. The company will set up 70 per cent of the new outlets in the existing cities while the remaining will come up in new cities.
“This is because we have to undertake extensive preparatory work before foraying into a new city or State,” he said. On the entry into Andhra Pradesh, Jatia said the company would set up first outlet in about 15 months. “We will eventually have 25 McDonald’s outlets in AP. Besides, we will also expand our operations in Telangana where we currently operate 20 restaurants,” he explained.
So far, WDL has infused about Rs 1,000 crore on the outlets while suppliers have invested an equal amount in the last 20 years. The company, which posted revenues of Rs 760 crore last fiscal is targeting Rs 850 crore turnover in the current fiscal.
India’s western fast food market is currently valued at $1 billion and the company expects this to jump four-fold in the next one decade. Stating that the company has recently tied up with online food-ordering platform Foodpanda for delivery services, Jatia said that food orders through their online portal and mobile app accounted for about 40 per cent of the total delivery business.
