New Delhi: The Mumbai-based Mars Hotels and Restaurants, which owns brands such as Tendulkars, All Stir Fry and Just Around the Corner, will invest an estimated Rs 100 crore in the next three years to expand business and get a national footprint.
"The company's growth in the next few years will come largely from its in-flight catering business, which is growing exponentially thanks to the boom in civil aviation," Mr Sanjay Narang, Chief Executive Officer said.
Mars is also simultaneously expanding its boutique hotel brand Gordon House, currently in Mumbai and Pune, to other locations. By the first quarter of fiscal 2007 the company will launch an 80-room property in Bangalore. It is already in negotiations for a 100-room property in Gurgaon, Mr Samir Kuckreja, Joint Managing Director, said, adding that it plans to open an additional Gordon House property at Sahar in suburban Mumbai by April 2006.
"We are also considering cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata and tier B cities to give the brand a national presence. Given the stressful life style of global travellers, boutique hotels offer a retreat which has both the luxuries and the required conveniences," Mr Narang said.
The company's in-flight catering business, meanwhile, is growing rapidly with Mars now catering to Kingfisher Airlines, 70 per cent of Jet Air 's requirements as also Air India Express, Mr. Narang said. "With business growing in the F&B segment and the airlines, we are now in the process of setting up a large commissary unit in Bangalore to supplement the Mumbai unit. We are also looking at Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad for this," Mr Narang said. The company currently dishes out 15,000 in-flight meals out of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore daily.
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Meanwhile, the company is taking a fresh look Tendulkar's and Sachin's, its joint ventures with Sachin Tendulkar. While Tendulkar's, the upscale restaurant in downtown Mumbai, has done satisfactory business, Sachin's, the company's Indian food and family dining brand, has not met expectations, according to Mr Kuckreja. Plans are now being firmed up to roll out the two brands into its 1,100-seater food court at Bangalore in a joint venture with the Embassy group.
While Sachin's is scheduled for a December 20 opening, Tendulkar's will be launched by March, Mr Kuckreja said. "Sachin's will now be rolled out in malls and corporate parks and Tendulkar's will probably be part of Gordon House since it is expensive to operate restaurants in prime locations in cities," Mr Narang said.
Mars is also simultaneously in discussions with a number of large developers in the mall and corporate park business across cities in North India in its quest for a national presence.
All its seven food court brands are available in Bangalore where it is also currently developing its thaali business.
The Malaysia-based Navis Capitals Partners recently picked up 74 per cent stake in the company. With business booming, the company expects turnover to go up from Rs 60 crore the previous year to over Rs 100 crore in the current fiscal.
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