Ahmedabad’s popular restaurant brands are now either entering or expanding in foreign countries. Gujaratis settled abroad will now be able to relish local food specialities such as pulao, pav bhaji, vadapav and sandwiches.
Choice Restaurant of Ahmedabad recently opened an outlet in North Carolina, USA, catering to the taste of globetrotting Gujaratis with local offerings, which started with a single outlet in 1979 at CG Road in Ahmedabad.
“The outlet in North Carolina just opened and we have received a good response. Two more outlets in Canada and Australia are also on the cards in the coming five to six months. Depending on the response, we will also expand into these markets with more outlets,” said Baiju Dhanani, managing director of the restaurant chain, which operates some seven outlets in Gujarat.
The restaurant is also eyeing Middle East countries. Similarly, Jay Bhavani Vadapav, a local fast-food joint in Ahmedabad, has invested at least Rs 1 crore to launch an outlet in Canada. “By the end of this month, our outlet in Ottawa, Canada, will be operational. We are already working on launching the second outlet,” said Kishansinh Rajput, owner, Jay Bhavani Vadapav, which runs at least 118 outlets in Gujarat and other parts of India. The launch will be its maiden international foray.
Brands having global presence looking for expansion
A huge Indian population, including Gujaratis, resides in these areas and will certainly give us good business. Our equipment and other raw materials have already been shipped,” said Kishansinh Rajput, owner, Jay Bhavani Vadapav.
Food joints eyeing international expansion tend to seek out local services for compliance support. “We recently expanded our service bouquet to enable startups, SMEs and businesses to expand into the global arena.
For Choice Restaurant’s (one of the oldest and reputed restaurant brands of Ahmedabad) US foray, we enabled their franchisee documents, franchisee manual, franchisee agreements, incorporation of the business in USA, securing the IP and ongoing compliance support,” said Shrijay Sheth, founder, Legalwiz.in, a city-based legaltech startup.
Some of the popular local brands which already have a global footprint are also looking at further expansion. Honest – which started as a street side fast-food joint at Law Garden in 1975, already has several outlets operational in the US. Its founder Vijay Gupta confirmed that the company is bullish on expanding both in foreign and local markets in the days to come, backed by a robust demand.
With presence in Australia, Canada and the US, Sankalp Group of restaurants is also looking to expand globally.