Indygo to launch food outlets

However great pizza or burger fans Indians may have become, most Indians secretly yearn for the spicy, tongue-tickling Indian delicacies: samosa, paratha, tikka or even the ubiquitous vada-pav.

Catching this nerve of the Indian customer is Pune-based Northwest Hospitality Management, which has plans to open a chain of typically Indian fast food outlets.

The first such outlet in the chain, Indygo, will open at Worli in Mumbai and serve tasty Indian fast food including vadapav, samosa, paratha, tikka, kebab among other dishes. Northwest Director Mohan Damle told Business Standard that the company is "close to opening the first outlet."

Damle said the company will be quick in its Mumbai rollout and will open the second outlet in Andheri within a month of opening the first.

Next on cards would be in Pune's up-market locations of Ferguson College Road and Aundh, he said.

"Indygo's national roll out will begin with Hyderabad and Bangalore," Damle said, adding that the company intends opening at least five Indygo outlast in each city, to reach a break-even point at the earliest.

Damle said the unique selling proposition for Indygo would be quality food with authentic Indian taste.

Elaborating the Indygo theme, Damle said there will be three types of outlets under Indygo brand. One will be a food court kind of a thing, within big shopping malls with an area of about 250 square feet, another will be Stand Alone outlet like McDonald's spread across an area of about 1,000 sq ft and the third "� which may take a little time to come "� will be Drive Through, where one can make order and get food sitting in the car.

"These Indygo outlets will be obviously based alongside highways and express ways, Damle informed."

He said, initially the company will look for leased premises to keep the costs down. This done, the investment on interior design and kitchen wouldbe Rs 25 lakh for a food court, Rs 40 lakh for standalone.

"We have already invested around Rs 60 lakh in market research so far. All the Mumbai outlets will be supported by our 'base kitchen' in Worli. Most of the food items available in the Indygo outlets will be pre-cooked at this base kitchen and delivered to individual outlets, where the final cooking touch and presentation will be done, Damle stated.

We will give a lot of thrust on home delivery and online ordering. A website enabling e-ordering from Indygo is also under construction. It will list all the food items and the ingredients. Each Indygo outlet will provide employment to at least 30 to 35 people, Damle said.

Damle said the company is is also preparing to set sail to open Indygo outlets abroad. There are plans to set up Indygo chain in various countries like US, UK Singapore and Australia to name a few. The first offshore Indygo outlet will be opened at Seattle by December 2006, he added.