Eveready to form Joint Venture with McLeod Russel for packet tea business

Sayaji Industries Ltd has announced that its subsidiary Sayaji IngriTech LLP has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with France-based Alland & Robert, a manufacturer of gum arabic for a proposed joint venture.

The joint venture will leverage the manufacturing and distribution capabilities of Sayaji Industries in the food and food ingredients space in the country.

Allan & Robert will offer technological and gum processing expertise for providing its customers with a quality product, which is presently not being produced in India.

Anne-Sophie Alland, Head of strategy and development at Alland & Robert, said, "The Indian acacia gum market is complex, aiming at both the industry and final consumers. This joint venture is a great opportunity for Alland & Robert to dive into the Indian market with a local partner. Sayaji Industries Limited is also a family-owned company with the same values of hard work and business agility as Alland & Robert; thus they are a natural partner for us."

Amtek group company Rollatainers has sold its stake in a company that holds the licence to run American quick-service restaurant chain Wendy’s outlets in India.

Rollatainers held half the stake in Sierra Nevada Restaurants, an equally owned joint venture with International Market Management (IMM), a London-based consumer brand headed by entrepreneur-restaurateur Jasper Reid. IMM bought the Indian partner’s stake in Sierra Nevada, becoming its sole owner.

Sanjay Chhabra, until recently a director at Sierra Nevada, confirmed the development. “The shareholding of Sierra Nevada is now entirely with IMM. Rollatainers got a fair value for the shareholding, and the JV is finding the right model in India,” he said, but declined to divulge the financial terms citing confidentiality conditions.

Reid said his company now owned 100% of the venture. “We can now grow,” he told ET.

The joint venture was formed in 2015, ahead of Wendy’s entry into India. The US chain that operates more than 6,600 restaurants globally had at the time announced plans to open close to 50 outlets in India by 2019, but has so far been unable to live up to the plans. It has just two stores as of now, having shut down three, and has rationalised prices from Rs 100 a burger to Rs 29 upwards and downsized store sizes.

A top executive directly aware of the developments said: “Tough market conditions including high taxation and steep rentals, and lack of necessary investments took a toll on the business.”

The Arvind Dham-controlled Amtek group has been swirling in financial crisis, as its debt-laden auto components business is saddled with heavy losses. Rollatainers’ core business is packaging.

“The Indian partners were not able to invest enough in the business, given their own financial crisis,” said another person. “The restaurants business requires heavy investments, swift innovation and ability to absorb costs specially if you’re in the QSR space, and playing the volumes game. That’s where Wendy’s lost to McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King — it could neither capitalise on the mass segment nor in the fine dining space.”

ET had reported early last year that Wendy’s was reconsidering its operating model in India and moving away from its existing franchise model with the Amtek group.

“Most global chains are India bound to be part of the burgeoning food service market. However, they are not playing an investment role and looking at royalties... The challenge is to find the right franchisee partner and there’s been a fair number of hits and misses,” said Rahul Singh, president of the National Restaurant Association of India.

Jubilant FoodWorks Limited, one of India’s largest food service company, today announced its joint venture with Golden Harvest QSR Limited to launch Domino’s Pizza in Bangladesh. Post investment in JV, Jubilant FoodWorks will be the major shareholder in the joint venture entity ‘Jubilant Golden Harvest Limited’ with 51% of the total shareholding, while Golden Harvest QSR Limited, a part of the Golden Harvest Group, will own 49% in the JV.

Speaking on the announcement Mr. Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman and Mr. Hari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited said, “Today’s announcement marks a significant step in our journey of international expansion. As one of the fastest growing economies, we believe that Bangladesh offers huge potential for Domino’s. We are delighted to partner with the Golden Harvest group to introduce Domino’s pizza in Bangladesh. In Golden Harvest, we have found a trusted and capable partner with a diversified set of businesses across Food, Dairy, Logistics, Commodities and other areas, and we look forward to building our business in partnership with them.”

Commenting on the development Mr. Pratik Pota, CEO & Whole time Director, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited said, “We are excited to be entering the Bangladesh market. As the eight most populous country in the world with the highest population density and a young demographic, the Bangladesh market presents a great growth opportunity for Domino’s. We are confident that with Jubilant’s strong operational expertise and Golden Harvest’s deep understanding of the Bangladesh market, we will be able to carve a strong position in the food services market in the country.”

According to Mr. Rajeeb Samdani, Managing Director of Golden Harvest Group, “We are excited to collaborate with Jubilant FoodWorks to bring the world renowned and iconic Domino’s Pizza brand to Bangladesh. Pizza is a growing food segment in the country as the consumers are opening up to more experimentation in food especially global cuisines. This partnership has a huge potential and with Jubilant FoodWorks’ support we are confident that we would be able to deliver a great pizza experience to our customers in Bangladesh.”

Jubilant FoodWorks Limited, which is a master franchise holder of Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts brands in India, has exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza brand in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal as well.

Golden Harvest QSR Limited is a part of Golden Harvest Group of Bangladesh which is a diversified conglomerate and has interests in various sectors such as food, commodities, IT, logistics, real estate, dairy and insurance.

Pune-based Relfor Labs has launched its new venture Bakeway.com that has clubbed more than 350 bakeries and 75 home bakers from across the city on a single platform.

Deepak Nathani, the CEO of Relfor said an investment of Rs 3 crore in the venture this year can help me to venture in the national market over the course of the next two years with a total investment of over Rs 10 crore. He also mentioned plans for expanding the venture to offer snacks and party combos from bakeries.

Relfor in a statement mentioned, “Users are required to enter their preferred locality within the city and follow few quick steps to order cakes from the best bakeries and home bakers in town.”

Nathani, who invests actively in other start-ups and ideas and was also the co-founder and former COO of Cybage said online activity in the start-up space, is increasingly becoming niche. “Looking at the current e-commerce trend, consumers are more inclined towards the niche online marketplaces.”

At Bakeway, he has subsumed bakeries like Copper Chocs, Bakers Basket, WS Bakers, Cake and Cream Factory.