In an exclusive interview with Franchise India, Harshil Jitendra Amin, Co-Founder and Owner of Patels Chhappanbhog, talks about the journey of the brand, opening the Sweet & Farsan Shop in 1989 to Restaurant, Banquet Hall and serving IRCTC Trains and Postal Food Contracts and finally landing in 2018 with Cloud Kitchens.
Harshil Jitendra Amin launched Cloud Kitchens in April 2018 with a strong belief that 'good food can excite people'. The aim was to enhance the Indian palate by building a large and scalable Cloud Kitchen in the country, thereby, providing great quality food at an affordable price.
The brand launched its Sweet Shop in 1989, which built its name with unwavering quality and delightful delicacies in the heart of Baroda’s. In 2003, the company introduced Gujarati Thali and Banquet Halls which build its name with the true taste of Gujarat traditional heritage. Then in 2004, Patels Chhappanbhog started industrial catering with companies like I.O.C.L, I.R.C.T.C to cater trains, postal training center, matrix telecom, and Collabera.
In 2018, the brand opened its first company-owned company-operated cloud kitchen at Alkapuri, Vadodara. Then in 2020, it came up with an idea of giving franchisee. Patels Chhappanbhog reached more than 10 operational company-owned cloud kitchen by June 2020.
To support this retail push, the brand started expanding its menu to offer an all-day meal and snacking options and subsequently rebranded as Patels Chhappanbhog in March 2018. Today, Patels Chhappanbhog offers high quality, all-day food options across snacks and mealtimes that include Meals, Family meals Mini meals, Biryanis, Pizzas, Beverages, and Desserts. Customers can take away or order for delivery, as per their convenience.
Patels Chhappanbhog is currently present with 10 operational company-owned cloud kitchen in 7 cities.
In terms of revenues, the brand has shown growth of almost three times from April 2018 to March 2020. Its order numbers have shown a 350% growth from April 2018 to March 2020. This growth has been driven by two factors, its pivot from a ‘meals only’ to an ‘all-day delivery’ menu and the increase in Patels Chhappanbhog outlets across the country.
Patels Chhappanbhog’s menu comprises a wide range of high-quality all-day delivery and snacking options, at affordable prices. This delicious menu is now available to customers at their convenience, takeaway, or delivery. Customers can order online through its website, mobile app, or any of the leading food aggregation platforms, or they can simply call its customer care to place their delivery orders.
A key element of its growth story is the hassle-free, high ROI franchise model for people looking to start their food business. The company takes care of the food, supply chain, marketing, technology, and customer care, while the franchisee focuses on managing outlet operations and local area marketing. All Patels Chhappanbhog outlets are designed to be capital and resource-efficient, enabling quick break-even and profitability at an outlet level.
Patels Chhappanbhog follows a hybrid distribution model, with a mix of the franchise and company-owned outlets. The franchise partner will be motivated to associate with Patels Chhappanbhog due to its obsessive focus on quality and customer delight.
The company proactively seeks customer feedback and has made many product/service improvements over the past couple of years based on these customer insights.
Patels Chhappanbhog is quite bullish on its growth both in terms of volumes and revenues across our Cloud Kitchen formats and locations.
Harshil Jitendra Amin said, “We are increasing our presence in the metros and at the same time, we have started expanding to tier-II cities. We foresee substantial domestic growth coming from tier II cities and have ambitious plans to establish a total of 100 Cloud Kitchens by FY 2022.”
Menu boards are cost-effective to keep customers up-to-date with pricing, products, and promotions. They also help in faster service as customers make quick menu decisions. The brand uses these to display real-time changes in product pricing and availability to the consumers.
Its automated menu boards also allow it to promote daily specials and offers that help drives sales and contribute to increased profits.
Patels Chhappanbhog sees the following areas where technology innovations will play an important role in the Cloud Kitchen in coming years:
- Personalized food recommendations to consumers, based on their past behavior and preferences.
- Accurate demand prediction for efficient capital and supply chain management as well as waste reduction.
- Dynamic pricing based on demand-supply patterns.
- Enhanced multi-channel customer engagement to deepen the relationship.
Amid COVID-19, the cloud kitchen has seen exponential growth as people are moving forwards towards more safety and hygiene. The Cloud Kitchen business model is shaking up the entire restaurant industry.
As per Red Seer Management Consulting, cloud kitchens are projected to become an $8 billion industry in India by 2024.
Seeing such sigh potential of the market, it is viable to invest in a cloud kitchen franchise. Patels Chhappanbhog offers lucrative franchise opportunities for like-minded entrepreneurs.
Patels Chhappanbhog offers franchisor support to its franchisees like site selection and layout, pre-launching training, HR and staffing support, PR and marketing support, operations assistance, etc.
The brand has a delivery-only model, with expected delivery under 40 minutes. The average order price is Rs 200-300. The company is targeting urban working millennials. Patels Chhappanbhog kitchen can be located at a low-cost, high demand area.
If you become a Patels Chhappanbhog franchisee, the brand will also help in social media marketing. They will help you in targeting a larger customer base and will make you understand how to get the same customer again and again.
Total Investment: Rs 13,00,000
Franchisee Fee: Rs 3,54,000
-Interior Civil Cost: Rs 2,37,000
-Kitchen Equipments: Rs 6,00,000
-Initial Raw Material: 50,000
-Misc. (Uniforms, Licenses, Lanch, etc): Rs 60,000
Area Required: 300-450 sq ft
Gross Profit/Month: 18%
ROI per annum: 45-111%
Pay Back Period: 18 months
