Sweet success of Shakes in India
Sweet success of Shakes in India

Post completing his MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar, Yeshwanth joined TCS for about a year, he quit his job to open a shake store, which was his long time dream. Together, with his brother, Ashwin, who during that time was a freshly graduated MBA from Goa Institute of Management, opened The Thick Shake Factory in 2013.

What was the idea behind The Thick Shake Factory?
I always wanted to own something of my own. It was during one of our Europe trips, we noticed that lot of people walk around the streets sipping shakes or beverages, but it rarely happens in India. Seeing the great potential that the market holds, we started our first The Thick Shake Factory outlet in December 2013 at Manjeera Mall in Hyderabad.

How much time did it take to open the outlets?
It took us 6 months to research and understands the market. When we did a research among the local public, only few were with the opinion to open a shake outlet, rest all suggested it was a bad dea. But, after opening our first outlet we got a huge response and started expanding within a year time.

How many outlets are you running presently? How many of them are franchised?
We are running 16 outlets, mainly in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Coimbatore. We have 11 company owned outlets and 5 franchised outlet.

What are the different kind of models under Thick Shake factory? How much investment is required for both the formats?
We are running two formats as of now- QSR and Casual Dining. Quick Service Restaurants require about Rs 18-22 lakh investment, whereas Casual Dining restaurants need Rs 23-30 lakh investment depending on the size of the restaurant.

How do you decide on location?
We generally prefer mall and high street to open our stores. At mall we prefer food court or the high visible area whereas at high street, we see that its located at a place from where it is easily accessible and people can grab it while they are on-the-go.

What are the different varieties of shakes being served?
Our menu consists of about 40 Shakes and the famous Shape your Shake allows the customers to choose what they want from over 30 varieties of toppings. After getting rave reviews from customers, we are also coming up with some customised shakes which suffice you like a meal.

From where do you source the raw material?
We have our own factory located at Hyderabad where we manufacture all the raw materials required for our products.

How about exploring delivery model?
We are already doing delivery of our shakes in Hyderabad in a distance of 10 km from our outlets with a promised delivery of 30-40 minutes.

How many more outlets do you plan to open?
We are planning to add eight more outlets by December end, taking the total count to 24. We are also planning to open 40 outlets by end of this fiscal, as we expand to other cities.

In terms of revenue. Where do you stand?

We are placed at a monthly turnover of RS 3.5 crore, which is expected to reach Rs 7 Crore by end of this fiscal. 

What is your expansion plan?
After successfully running at three locations and getting rave reviews, we are now planning to expand the business across Hyderabad, and also enter cities like Mumbai, Pune, Vijaywada and Vizag, where we see great market potential as people at these locations have got a sweet tooth. We have also tied up with Hyderabad metro to open outlets at the stations once the metro is functional.

 
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