Mumbai: A fast-paced lifestyle and changing eating habits are not only fuelling expansion and growth of quick service restaurants (QSRs) across India, but also of the cold chain logistics industry, which helps food reach fast and fresh. With the growing number of QSRs in India, local cold chain companies like Kelvin Cold Chain, Gati, Crystal Logistics and Snowman are seeing their business balloon at a pace of anywhere between 15% and 25%.
"Quick service restaurants are a big opportunity. We have seen a growth of 25-30% in the last few years," said Manish Agarwal, vicepresident at Gati cold chain, which gets 15-20% of its Rs 45.8 crore annual revenue from this segment. It counts Dominos as one of its major clients.
Business coming from these standardised but quality-conscious food chains is expected to fuel tremendous growth in the next two years as Indian and foreign brands expand presence. Cold chain companies distribute and deliver food from centralised kitchens to outlets, where minimal cooking takes place.
Crisil expects the QSR market to double to about Rs 7000 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 3400 crore in 2012-13, driven largely by new store additions in smaller cities. "Expansion is an issue without cold chains. We give a standard experience to everyone across cities, and that is not possible without a strong supply chain network," said K Ramakrishnan, presidentmarketing at Cafe Coffee Day. Restaurateur Anjan Chatterjee, who runs restaurant chains such as Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta, says that cold chain logistics is a backbone of the food industry and is absolute necessity for the expansion of his BSE-listed Speciality Restaurants.
CCD's Ramakrishnan, however, pointed out the availability of good cold chains is limited in smaller towns. The need for cold chains is greater in smaller towns as infrastructure is poorer and maintaining quality is tougher. Currently, metro and mini-metro cities combined form over 90% of the QSR market, according to Technopak. These food chains are penetrating deeper into the country to gain from increasing urbanisation and aspirations of younger generation. Consumer spend on these fast food chains will rise due to rising nuclear families, steady growth in incomes, changing lifestyle and eating patterns.
"New products are being developed. New localised products are coming in. Quick service restaurants are adding more markets and choices for consumers are increasing," said Pankaj Joshi, CEO at Kelvin Cold Chain. The company currently caters to eight clients in the segment, including Papa John's and Baskin Robbins, which contribute to about 40% of the revenue of about Rs 32 crore.
No comments:
Post a Comment