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Ratna Bhushan

According to Mr Rohit Chand, Chairman, Trak Services, Mark Pi intends to set up 20 restaurants by the end of next year, and 240 outlets in five years' time.

New Delhi , Nov. 28

AS if the American onslaught from food retail chains such as McDonald's, Domino's and Subway was not enough, the Rs 500-crore organised Indian fast food retail industry has contenders from another part of the globe - China.

Take the Rs 500-crore Chinese fast food retailer, Mark Pi International, which is staging an Indian entry through an alliance with the Rs 100-crore ITES provider Trak Services Pvt Ltd. An investment of Rs 160 crore is being infused in the venture over a period of five years. According to Mr Rohit Chand, Chairman, Trak Services, Mark Pi intends to set up 20 restaurants by the end of next year, and 240 outlets in all in five years time. The company has projected sales of Rs 250 crore per year in five years.

Trak, the master franchisee for the Mark Pi chain, will pay a fixed royalty to Mark Pi for using their brand name over a period of 20 years.

According to Mr Chand, Trak plans to become an end-to-end hospitality services company, including foraying into commercial farming in villages, and exporting processed foods to international markets.

Trak is currently working out plans to sign a joint venture agreement with Mark Pi. "The joint venture company, the proposed investment for which is about $5 million, will be responsible for setting up Mark Pi outlets in other countries," Mr Chand said.

Another new fast food Chinese retail chain, Moods Hospitality Pvt Ltd, has allocated an investment of Rs 10 crore in its first year of operations for its Yo! China chain of restaurants. The chain has projected a target of setting up 10 outlets in the next one year. "The capital invested in the company is through equity placement from directors. Future expansions will be partially funded by bank debt," Mr Ashish Kapur, Managing Director, Moods Hospitality, told Business Line. Yo! China's selling proposition, according to Mr Kapur, will be "Chinese fast food at Chinese street hawker prices". The reasons for the latest Chinese invasion are not hard to find: The organised fast food industry is estimated to be growing at a healthy 40 per cent per year; besides, market research studies indicate that Chinese cuisine in India is the most popular foreign cuisine in the country.

Meanwhile, a KSA Technopak study indicates that the fast food industry in India will be worth $1.27 billion by year 2005.

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