Pizza Hut Promoter Has Taco Bell In Growth Menu

Tricon Restaurants International, the promoter of Pizza Hut in the country, is looking at opening its Taco Bell chain of Mexican restaurants in India and other Asian markets.

At present, Tricon Restaurants operates 29 Pizza Hut outlets across 11 cities and a single KFC restaurant, in Bangalore, in the country.

"We have a long-term plan for India as well as for the south Asian region. We plan to bring in all our brands into the country in the long run," Pankaj Batra, the marketing director (Indian sub-continent) of Tricon Restaurants International, told Business Standard.

The company, which operates as many as 7,111 Taco Bell outlets worldwide, has opened a couple of Mexican specialty restaurants in Singapore and Australia.

 

"Bringing in Taco Bell will definitely fit into our gradual expansion agenda for India," he said. However, he clarified that the plan to bring in Taco Bell is at a very preliminary stage as the company plans to concentrate more on extending the presence of Pizza Hut all over the country.

"We have only two Pizza Hut outlets in Mumbai and it can accommodate more outlets," he said.

He said that the company's' focus would be consolidating its position in the northern and western market during 2002. The company operates two Pizza Hut outlets in Pune and Ahmedabad outlet is the only vegetarian restaurant it operates worldwide.

For the promotion of the Pizza Hut brand, the company has already allocated Rs 7.5 crore as the advertising budget for July 2001-June 2002.

Among Tricon's three brands, Pizza Hut has the maximum number of outlets worldwide followed by KFC and Taco Bell.