ITC may take Fabelle chocolate boutiques to malls

The boutiques are already present in four ITC hotels, and the company is targeting a total of seven by October

ITC is planning to take its Fabelle chocolate boutiques to high-end malls as part of its second phase of expansion.

Right now, Fabelle chocolate boutiques are present in four of ITC's hotels -- ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru, ITC Sonar, Kolkata, ITC Grand Chola, Chennai and most recently, ITC Maurya in Delhi.

"We have started with hotels and then we want to go into high-end malls, and so on. We are looking for nice properties in malls but most of the good properties in premium malls are taken," B Sumant, president, FMCG businesses of ITC, said.

But that's not stopping ITC from entering new cities. "By October, we will be in seven hotels," Sumant said.

A chocolate boutique is a popular concept globally. Godiva chocolate boutiques and Lindt chocolate cafes are famous. In India, there are some standalone city-centric chocolate boutiques/cafes, but with ITC entering the space, there would be a national chain of chocolate boutiques.

Fabelle offers premium chocolate creations such as Fabelle Elements, Fabelle Ganache and Fabelle As You Like It (personalised chocolate cup creations). In addition, the boutiques provide a range of Fabelle desserts and cocoa beverages, created live by Fabelle Master chocolatiers.

The story goes that Fabelle chocolate creations were put up to the senior management at ITC headquarters at least 7-8 times over the last decade and every time it was sent back to the drawing board to improve upon the previous version.

A state-of-the-art pilot plant has been set up for Fabelle. The single origin cocoas are being sourced from the cocoa growing regions in Africa and South America such as Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Venezuela, Saint Domingue and Sao Tome.

"Hotels are a great opportunity for us to offer the product at the premium-end and we are expanding our hotels rapidly. So we are able to get into the cities. The second phase of the plan is to enter the high-end malls," Sumant explained.

Indeed, ITC has been growing its hotels business at a frenetic space. Ten owned hotels are in various stages of construction in the luxury and five-star segment, while 30 owned/managed hotels are on the drawing board in the mid-market to upscale segment. That by itself is a tremendous growth opportunity for Fabelle.

On an average the Fabelle chocoloate boutiques at the existing properties are 700-800 square feet and Sumant promises that even when it takes the boutique outside of its hotels it won't be tucked in a small corner.