For Kabir Jeet Singh, founder and chief executive officer, Burger Singh, – a quick service restaurant (QSR), it all started as an exercise to spice-up his burger meal while pursuing a Masters in Business Administration and working part-time at a fish and chip outlet in Birmingham, UK. And very soon, the idea of offering Indianised burgers began taking shape. In an exclusive chat with TMM, he speaks about the company’s journey, USP, overall business, and expansion plans among others.
You had been in love for burgers since you were a student, how did the idea of Burger Singh happen?
The journey started while I was working at a burger chain in the UK for some extra pocket money. I used to get free burgers every day and it took only a short while for me to get bored with the bland taste of those burgers. So one day, I went to a nearby store to get Shan Masala and mixed them in some burger patties. To my surprise, they tasted awesome. Eventually, everyone around me tasted and loved them. The love for Indian cuisine among the Britishers is legendary and in no time, these Indo-British fusion burgers were on the restaurant menu. Soon they even started calling me ‘Burger Singh’. (laughs)
It’s been 5 years, how has the QSR business shaped over the years?
We entered the market in 2014 at a time when McDonald’s had only started building a delivery platform and there were no other major burger delivery chains in the country. We saw a huge gap in this market and thought the burger QSR market could become what pizza delivery was back in 2004. Today, there is an abundance of burger players in the market and the customer gets much more choices. But at the same time, we are also seeing a year-on-year rise in demand and more room for innovations in this space.
In the competitive food market, what sets Burger Singh apart from the competitors?
Our biggest USP is our menu. No other burger chain offers you the desi taste inside a bun. We have burgers ranging from Amritsari Murgh Makhani to Pao Bhaji, Chicken Keema and Shahi Paneer. This sets us apart from all other QSRs who at most have one or two India-special recipes on their entire menu. The other USP is our delivery experience – from premium packaging to hand sanitizers and mouth fresheners, we have got you covered for a restaurant-like feel at your doorstep.
Burger Singh is not into marketing/promotional gimmicks. Is it a philosophy of the brand?
That’s interesting to hear. We are normally accused of too many promotional gimmicks.
What were the challenges faced during the initial phase of Burger Singh?
No business comes without its own set of challenges. One that we can talk about was to develop good tech to manage our supply chain and efficiently converse with the ecosystem of vendors, employees, and customers. After a few failed attempts at customised off-the-shelf technology, we decided to build one for ourselves.
Another big challenge was that our Indian customers are very demanding. It is not like western countries where 50-60 percent of sales come from one main item on the menu. So we are always working on building newer recipes, while still keeping a lean menu – which means bringing in new items and eliminating some old ones, giving the customer something new and refreshing all the time.
According to a report by Assocham, India’s quick service restaurants (QSR) market is expected to touch Rs 25,000 crores by 2020. Where do you see the future of Burger Singh? What are your expansion plans?
At present, Burger Singh has 28 outlets, of which 20 are in Delhi/NCR, one in Pune, two in Dehradun, and two in Jaipur. We have three franchises, including one in Nagpur and two in London. This year, we are looking at consolidating the Delhi and NCR market further and expanding to a few selective regions around Delhi. By the end of this financial year, you will see us more than double our outlets including franchises.
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