Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd announces the aggressive expansion plans for its fine-dine restaurant brand, Punjab Grill. The multi-award-winning F&B conglomerate that runs brands like Zambar, YouMee, Tres, Hahn’s Kitchen, and The Artful Baker; is geared up to expand the footprint of brand Punjab Grill to a total of 100 outlets in India in the next 4 years with an investment of about ₹200 crores.
Punjab Grill currently has about 22 company-owned outlets across six cities. The parent company is considering expanding the Punjab Grill brand through new outlets in tier one and tier two markets such as Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Chandigarh. Mall presence is another key area adding to the brand’s growth and LBF is closely working with mall operators in cities such as Lucknow, Indore, Pune, and Bengaluru.
The brand is currently clocking around Rs 120 crore in revenues. It is the flagship brand of Lite Bite Foods (LBF) and is known for its good quality north Indian food, a cuisine that is accepted pan India, and gaining a fan base overseas as well. It even survived the pandemic, credit for which goes to high order-in demand for Indian food and internal restructuring of LBF to become a leaner company.
“We have come out of it (pandemic) and we want to grow our business sensibly. We want to put the money where we can get returns. Witnessing the huge potential of North Indian cuisine, it is safe to say, Punjab Grill is the growth engine for LBF. Dine-in sentiments are improving in the country and looking at our October numbers, many of our restaurants are back to 2019 levels and some outlets have even witnessed growth over the pre-pandemic levels. That is definitely bringing back confidence in our business. Additionally, our delivery business which used to be just 8-10% of our entire revenue pie is now almost 25% of the business” says Rohit Aggarwal, Director, Lite Bite Foods.
Each outlet costs approximately 2.25-2.4cr, apart from the rentals. The fresh infusion will be done mostly through internal accruals to make Punjab Grill a ₹500 crore top-line brand by 2026.
The brand has five outlets overseas with three company-owned outlets in Washington DC, The Ritz Carlton, Abu Dhabi, and the newest addition is at The Oberoi Dubai, launched in September 2021. Lite Bite Foods (LBF) is being approached by luxury hotels in the GCC countries and looking at a steady international expansion of its flagship brand.
The company’s aggressive expansion plans come at a time when restrictions on the restaurant industry have largely been eased across states. The sector has bounced back strongly, especially in the quick-service and casual dining restaurant segments.
The secret sauce of the brand’s success has been reinvention and localization of their menu depending on the city. Backed by thorough research, the culinary team curates special menus from time to time, to introduce customers to new flavours and techniques and at the same time push the envelope and go beyond north-Indian offerings. International outlets offer more refined flavours and presentations catering to the global consumer.
Lite Bite Foods, which was established in 2002 has about 22 owned and nine managed brands under the company’s umbrella. The company has around 200 operational food and beverage outlets across airports, malls, high streets, and multiplexes among others. Lite Bite Foods also operates 13 cloud kitchens (and expanding) that were rolled out in the middle of the pandemic in July 2020 to cater to the high delivery demand.
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