Om Pizza aims more stores

OM Pizza, the Indian franchisee of Papa John’s is planning to open more stores in the country from 2015. The firm, owned by the Mittal family, forayed into Indian food services space by acquiring OM Pizza & Eats last year.

Currently, Papa John’s runs about 20 stores across the country. Atulya Mittal, Director, Avan Projects and son of Vinod Mittal, younger brother of Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, said, “After we took over, the focus has been on consolidation. Overall, we see good progress in strengthening our core operations and the focus will be on new stores.”

In the Rs 2,300 crore Indian pizza market, where Dominos holds 70 percent share, Papa John’s holds a meagre market share, after Pizz Hut.

According to Atuliya Mittal, Avan Projects does not plan to focus on ‘The Great Kabab Factory', the business bought along with Papa John's under Om Pizza and Eats. The firm also does not have any immediate plans to diversify into other food service space in India.

“We see tremendous opportunity in the pizza space and will look beyond that space, once we feel we have done justice to the Papa John's pizza brand. This is not to say we don't evaluate other opportunities in food and beverage from time to time. But as of now, we see Papa John's as the most exciting F&B opportunity on our plate,” he said.