Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), one of the world’s largest chicken restaurant brands, is planning to take the franchise route for expanding its functions throughout India.
“We plan to open 50 stores by 2008-end. Our business model is primarily a franchise one, and the aggregate investment involved in this expansion will be Rs 200 to Rs 300 crore,” Unnat Varma, marketing director, KFC India, said in a statement. He was speaking at the inauguration of KFC’s new quick-service restaurant in Kolkata, which also happens to be the first in India to be monitored entirely by hearing-impaired employees.
According to the company, about 20 per cent of the new restaurants will be company-owned. The new outlets will come up in malls as well as in high-street locations.
“We will subsequently be looking at tier II and III cities. In our business, a lot depends on the back-end, including supply chain and vendors. We need to have the infrastructure in place before we move into these smaller cities,” said Varma.
Referring to the recent outbreak of bird flu in the state, Varma informed that about 10-15 per cent sales were affected during the period. “Arambagh Hatcheries is one of our two vendors in the country. We insisted on a certificate of safety from them and stopped serving chicken during the ban,” said Varma.
