Everybody loves a good chocolate

07/07/2017 - Hyderabad: For a decade now, The Chocolate Room has been offering chocolate-based products. What started as a single store at Ahemdabad in 2007, the Chocolate Room now has grown to 235 stores to have a pan India presence . Now, the company has set a target to have 500 cafes in three years.

For this, it will take the tested franchise route as well as set up its own stores in key locations, says its L Chaitanya Kumar, co-founder and chairman and managing director of The Chocolate Room India. This is Kumar’s first venture in India. Before this, the engineering graduate was in Australia.

“We were the pioneers of chocolate cafes. People have responded well. They did not mind waiting a while for the product to be delivered,” he says about the company’s effort in the organised segment.

Its second café was in Hyderabad. After this, it started expanding in all key locations. “We have expanded using the franchise route. Our brand recall is good and many associated us with good chocolate and therefore there was a demand for opening more outlets. That way, we complete a decade in the difficult to operate food segment as well as franchising,” he says.

Out of the 235 stores, 20 are company owned and the remaining are franchises. It operates them in three formats- compact (500 sft), kiosks ( 250 sft) and standalone (above (1,000 sft). The large stores account for 50 per cent of the total, while kiosks account for 30 per cent and compacts the remaining 20 per cent. The Hyderabad-headquartered firm has ten outlets, including four company owned, in the city. “We also serve breakfasts, lunches and dinners,” he says about the bistro.

The Chocolate Room also sells hot and cold beverages. “We maintain consistency in taste across stores as we have standarised the processes. Since the number of key ingredients is limited it is easy to maintain the same taste. This is one of the reasons for franchises finding success,”.

His firm currently uses about 5,000 kg chocolate a month, mainly sourced from Italy and Belgium. These apart, it uses syrups, floss, milk and coffee beans. “We are also promoting coffee. We are able to create a demand for 2,000 kg demand, which is a good achievement,” he says adding that it gets coffee from Chikmagalur.

“Yes, there will be some people who are calorie conscious. But chocolate is not an exception. It is same with other food categories as well. But, science also backs that having some amount of dark chocolate is good for health. Moreover, this is not a staple diet like rice or roti, which we consumer daily,” he says. Typically, people visit once in two weeks and the average spend is about Rs 300 for two people. The turnover is about Rs 100 crore, including from own stores and franchises. In next three years, it wants to add 300 more stores including 100 own stores and 200 franchises. It will also tap the online sales channel. The 100 stores it wants to set up will need an investment of about Rs 25 crore. “Now, we are looking to raise some VC funds for expansion,” says Kumar.

Typically it takes about, Rs 15-20 lakh for a franchise. The gestation period is 12-months to 18 months for achieving the break-even. The company, including the franchises, employ more than 1,000 people.

“We will also launch a new model- franchise owned company operated (foco) where we will operate the stores for the franchises. Its earlier franchise owned, franchise operated (fofo) will also be in vogue,” he says.

It has planning to set a bakery in each city that it operates to provide the required bakery products. “We will conduct chocolate tasting sessions,” he says.

By AuthorB. Krishna Mohan

Fonte:https://telanganatoday.com/everybody-loves-good-chocolate?utm_content=bufferfa4e7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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