ChokoLa, a café and chocolate boutique chain, which is promoted by Vasudha Munjal, a third generation entrepreneur from renowned industrialist family of Hero Honda, has plans to reach a 50 cafés mark in the next three years in all the major metros.
Presently the company has a state of the art manufacturing unit based in Gurgaon and has five cafés (Khan market, Vasant Vihar Market, DLF Promenade Vasant Kunj, DLF Saket, T3 International Terminal) and one chocolate boutique at T3 International Terminal, Delhi.
“Chokola has plans to roll out 15 new cafes and five boutiques in FY 2011-12 and will pump in approx 15 crores in 2011,” said Ravi Pahuja, COO, ChokoLa.
Chokola doesn’t have any plans to move to tier II and III cities as it is primarily an upmarket brand and will only contrate on metros.
According to Pahuja, “After Delhi, we are planning to take ChokoLa to other metros such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh because these markets offer us the segment we target at. Since our cafés are positioned as upmarket cafés, it is logical for us to go to these cities.”
Pahuja further added, “A ChokoLa Café is between 600 to 1000 sq ft carpet area, with a seating capacity of approx 20 persons. The cafe offers beverages, savouries, desserts, bakery and our range of chocolate products. A Chokola Chocolate Boutique is between 100-300 sq ft carpet areas without seating and primarily offers our entire chocolate range and at times desserts and bakery products depending on market and customer profile in that area/mall.”
ChokoLa’s café business contributes 60 percent to its revenue, while Chocolate Boutiques contribute 40 percent in the overall revenue pie of Chokola as a brand.
The company will not franchise and will concentrate on opening their COCO (company owned and company operated stores).
Apart from retailing its products through brick and mortar format, ChokoLa will also try its hands in e-retailing and will sell its product from company owned website and other e-retailing websites.
-Shubhra Saini
