Karan Tanna, an automobile engineer, did not always aim to be a restaurateur, however, always passionate about the food business. He worked with General Motors India and McKinsey & Company.
Despite the many jobs and private ventures, it is the restaurant business that always fascinated Tanna, thanks to childhood memories of his parents running a small restaurant for a few years in the family’s hometown of Veraval in Gujarat.
Between 2012 and 2015, Tanna helped scale up a Parsi restaurant chain called Goodies, started a bakery called FlourBox, and expanded a fast-food chain called Kutchi King from 18 to 200 outlets; all these ventures were spread across Gujarat.
In December 2015, he co-founded Yellow Tie Hospitality Franchise Management LLP, which manages and ramps up food and beverage (F&B) brands in India. Among his clients are US-based Genuine Broaster Chicken (GBC), Twist of Tadka and BB Jaan (the last two in association with chef Harpal Singh Singh Sokhi); also in the pipeline is Tanna’s in-house F&B chain brand Dhadoom, which is yet to be launched.
In an email Interview, Tanna, shared his investment plans and franchise model in India.
What made you be a restaurateur?My parents owned a restaurant in early 90s, I was too young then but I guess the impression stayed. When I started working with MNCs, I started to realise that I liked the work that creates some impact. Restaurants I believe create immediate impacts, it cheers up one's mood, it promotes celebrations, and it curbs hunger. I was always excited about the kick of creating a buzzing vibe that caters to moods of people and impacts their lives in a small way.
Tell us about your brands and its USP?Genuine Broaster Chicken is a heritage American brand that owns the patent for Pressure Fryer. Chicken can be cooked in this fryer with 50% less oil and its softer as it is more moist. Twist of Tadka is a high end Pure Veg. Progressive Indian brand with a bar. Dhadoom is our in-house brand. It is a comic themed brand that serves Poutine with Indian toppings. We are talking to a few international brands as well to bring them to India, you will hear about them soon.
Is there any plan for franchise model? If yes, how do you ensure that the franchisees maintain uniformity?We are India's first franchise management company and we are already offering franchisees for GBC. We have in-house capabilities and infrastructure to grow, manage and support franchises. We undertake their civil work which assures that all the stores look the same. We have centralised vendors who give us products as per our taste and we have logistics infrastructure through which we give door step delivery for all raw materials assuring consistency. We have regular brush up trainings and audits to identify areas of improvements and solve it. We closely monitor the operations at franchise store through a franchise management app and surprise visits.
How much investment have you made till date? What are the returns? We have made investments of $3 million. We have closed last financial year at a healthy EBITA of 25 per cent and we are expecting 5 fold growth in revenues in this year.
Have you reached breakable yet?Yes, our company is in profit and we registered approx. 25 per cent EBITA.
Do you have any further plans to open restaurants in tier II and tier III cities as well?Yes, we see a lot of potential in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. In fact as a strategy, we would want 50 per cent of our stores in these places. Even today out of 15 operational stores, we have 8 in Tier 1 and Tie 2 cities like Raipur, Surat, Lucknow etc. We are also opening in Gangtok, Guwahati, Imphal and many smaller cities.
Generally, food chains have one name for the restaurant with different places, but you have different names of the restaurants, why is so?All our restaurants have a common brand name. We have portfolio of various different brands and sub-brands, which naturally differ.
Delhi has become a hub for the best food chains. But you don't touch it yet. Why so? Any further plans?Yes, we can't ignore Delhi. We are soon opening three stores in Delhi of Genuine Broaster Chicken, The 1st store will open in June and remaining 2 in August.
