We are serving deliciously healthy food- Rajeev Chawla

Kenny Rogers was started as an alternate to QSR. And, today it is running 400 outlets in about 14 countries and is expanding aggressively to different parts of the world. Recently, the casual dining chain entered India by opening their first restaurant at Garden Galleria Mall, Noida. KRR which is managed by Malaysia based Berjaya Times Square has joined hands with Troika Hospitality India LLP to expand in India. 

Bringing brand to India

In food and beverages this is our first venture and my partners are based out of Malaysia and I am here looking after Indian operations. Kenny Rogers Roaster is Berjaya Times Square brand and they are also based out of Malaysia. And, since they know us from Malaysia itself they trust that we will do the proper justification with brand.

Partnership

Kenny Rogers Roasters was looking for a partner in India from last five to six years and were in talks with many of the people. They were looking for a partner who can work as per their requirement as this is the franchisor’s system and were looking for someone who was aggressive and has a knowledge of the Indian market well. And, ultimately they decided to go with us.

Entering franchising

It’s a partnership. We have got the master franchising rights for the brand in the country. They are having an experience of 400 outlets globally. We are only replicating their expertise here. So, that’s the way franchisee and franchisor works. We have got quality checks and two team members from Malaysia for two months and we also got eight members trained in Malaysia. In India we are planning to open minimum 10 plus outlets owned by Troika Hospitality and runned by Troika Hospitality and then we will be spreading with sub franchisee system. In that also we will manage the customer experience. It will be FOCO model because we don’t want to dilute the customer experience and change the KRR taste.

On Food

I don’t think there is any competition in the food we serve as it is entirely different to what is served till date in India. Nobody in India is serving rotisserie chicken and there is no brand having no flame kitchen. We are not adding any oil into food; our chicken is marinated and roasted in rotisserie which is made by KRR for all its outlets. The fat available in the chicken helps in getting it roasted and that’s way its tender and succulent because of the quality of the food we are serving.

We have got a huge menu- mock tails and soft drinks, soft drinks, muffins. For the first time in India we are serving muffins with dinner and lunch. We have got proprietary chicken items. We also built some items for Indian market like sauces named Ghost chilly etc. My menu is 70 per cent veg as all muffins, desserts, salads, wraps and drinks are vegetarian. 90 per cent items is original menu and we have added 10 per cent Indianised menu according to the market.

Supplying the right food

Proprietary foods are supplied by the franchisors. Other products are locally sourced and marinated in India.

On pricing

It’s a casual dining restaurant but we are very fairly priced. EPC along with a drink and quarter meal will cost around Rs 500-550.

Target Customer

Our target customers are everyone who is looking for healthy food. Everyone can boost that their food is delicious but nobody boosts that their food is healthy. Our tagline is deliciously healthy- our food is healthy along with delicious.

Expansion Plans

We are looking at opening 8-10 restaurants in coming years spreading all over India. We are planning at least three outlets by April. We have got massive pans and in India alone we will be opening 100 outlets in next 10 years. Our focus is Delhi-NCR for a couple of year’s expanding to Chandigarh and Ludhiana. We will focus on North India for next two years and then we will look for another market.