Hiya !!!!
Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to respond to these questions. Since this is for a profile on FS, we urge you to be as descriptive and detailed as possible. Tell us everything you want readers to know about your company. Anecdotes are always welcome encouraged even!
Along with responses to this questionnaire, please do send us the following images:
- High-res pictures of the founder(s)
- Pictures of the Store in action
- Pictures of products/Services/Franchisee if available
1) The founder: Are you from a family of entrepreneurs? What was your education like, you’re growing up years, and where are you based now? How has been the journey so far- from the initial phase to till date?
- I hail from a middle-class Gujarati family without any entrepreneurial background. Graduated from INIFD as a fashion designer and started my career in the retail sector as visual merchandiser and later shifted to marketing department. I’m currently based in Ahmedabad, where my entrepreneurial journey started. The journey has been a tough one with many ups and downs, but it’s been a worthwhile experience.
2)The ‘Aha!’ moment: What was the pain point you wanted to resolve or what opportunity did you seek to exploit; When did you know you wanted to become an entrepreneur? How your brand is unique and how it has evolved in the market?
We both are and will be a foodie, the passion that we have for food is what inspired us to open something on our own, to experiment and deliver new and creative recipes of our own.
While working 9 to don’t know what time we realised we are not enjoying our job, so we took a plunge and decided to take a risk with all our lifetime savings. After all what’s life without risk?
The base of our Kulchas are authentic Amritsari with a twist. You can taste the authenticity of the Amritsari Kulcha as well as the contemporary twists. As told before, experimentation and deliver; we believe that’s how we are unique. People always love something new every time, and that’s where we come. We have customer base who enjoys what we serve. And many brands lack the originality of a particular dish, but we are evolving because we know our Kulchas are original in taste even in Ahmedabad.
3)The product/company moment: How did you go about addressing the opportunity or the gap you saw that you decided to fill? What is your mission and vision? What opportunities do you see in the Indian market?
- The market is already flooded with lot of aspirants who is starting their own food ventures. But we believe in quality along with quantity. Once a brand looses it’s quality the customer base shifts. And we saw that opportunity or gap and that’s how we came into the picture.
Our mission will always be quality and originality, no matter what. To give our customers what they pay for, to give them the original taste of Kulchas from Amritsar. We are planning for expansion as much as possible, even abroad. Our vision is to be the best Kulchas brand in India as well as abroad, to be the best in what we do.
4)The founding team: If you have co-founders, how did you meet them? What are their profiles? What do they collectively bring to the team?
- We met in our workplace while we were doing jobs. We often discussed about different ventures and how they operate and stuff. Also, we had a knack for street foods, so we thought why not start something together? And it started. He was also in marketing and did his MBA.
Currently he looks after the day-to-day operations of all the outlets while I juggle for more business.
5) Franchise Market: Where is your target audience, and what is a typical profile they fit into? (e.g., national, regional, Foodpreneur, Businessmen etc) Who are your clients and what are you offering them?
- Our target audience doesn’t fit into a particular profile. Everyone who is a foodie and looks for taste and affordability are most welcome to our outlets. We offer Amritsari Kulchas and different twists to it, like Pizza Kulcha and many more. We have dine in as well as home delivery, so one can find us wherever and whenever they want. Currently we are available offline in Inorbit Mall, Vadodara ,VRMall, Surat; Kudasan,Gandhinagar and online in Swiggy and Zomato.
6) Business Model How important you think process are for future expansion on franchise expansion? Share about your different franchise model — What kind of support you provide to them?
- For any business to thrive and survive process is the most important aspect along with all other things. It gives a vision to the business and enlighten us how to go about it. It’s like a direction giver, without which it’s very difficult to walk on the path to success.
FOCO (Franchise owned company operated) is our current franchise model. We chose this model because it’s very important to maintain a standard in operations and for any restaurant the quality and taste is the most important thing. Also brand image means a lot. So when different people takes franchise, standard is bound to vary, because all people have different comfort level and taste in things. In order to bring them to a set of standards it becomes easier to work in the FOCO model. We offer everything from food, staff and also helps in setting up the outlet. We also supervise the daily operations of the outlets and make sure everything is in place.
7) Impacts How many customers have you served till now, what terms of reach you have achieved in terms of numbers/Orders/Reach? How many franchise outlets you have till now and how long they been with you?
- Till now we have served more than 1 lakh customers and it’s increasing day by day and month by month. We have definitely increased our customer base and have satisfied and impressed quite a lot.
We have 2 franchise outlets. One in VR mall, Surat and the other in Kudasan, Gandhinagar. They have been associated with us for almost 2 years.
8) Competition/counterparts: Who’s your biggest competitor in this space in India, or abroad? How are you differentiating yourself from them? What is something you offer to franchise that your competitors don’t?
- In field of Punjabi dish Jassi de Paranthe, Kake Di Hatti etc. Are our competitors. But their USP is paranthas and ours is Kulchas. We feel that our taste is authentic and it feels like our Kulchas are straight from the lanes of Amritsar. We offer end to end services to our franchise which many brands don’t.
9) Funding: How are you funded? Why did you choose this route? How much did you invest in the company initially, and what are your revenues now? Are you profitable/breakeven/? Any plans to raise funding in the next six months?
- Initially we started by investing our own savings of 15 lakhs and today our revenue stands at 1.5cr. We recovered our initial investment of 15 lakhs within 8 months of operation. So it has been definitely a profitable outcome. We are planning to open more franchise outlets in the coming 6 months. By Aug 2021, we are planning to open 5 more outlets in different parts of India and also to expand abroad.
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Our passion for food and the zeal to do something big and serve food to people encouraged us to choose the entrepreneurial path in the field of food. It’s one of the basic needs of human existence and we wanted to be in the basic chain.
10) Growth: What sort of growth have you seen since inception (could be in terms of users/transactions/franchise outlet/Own outlets/franchise inquiries.) What have been your biggest challenges and successes?
- We started with a single company owned outlet in Vadodara, Inorbit mall. But within a year we opened 2 more franchise outlets. The pandemic was a hit in the whole food industry, and we were also affected by it, but we are grasping again.
The biggest challenge that we were facing was the slight variation of taste from the main outlet in the franchise outlets since all the chefs were different although authentic. But now we have been successful in bridging that gap since now we have a centralized kitchen from where all the re food goes to all the outlets, although transportation is still a problem which needs to be resolved so that it operates smoothly.
11) Presence: What are your franchising plans? What cities are you present in? Where do you plan to expand too next? When do you plan to scale internationally — if at all you do — and what are some countries you plan to target first?
- In the next 6 months we are planning to open 5 more franchise outlets in India. Currently we are present in Vadodara, Surat and Gandhinagar. We are planning to expand to different cities of India, not only in Gujarat but outside it also. We are working on the plan of international expansion, probably will be targeting European countries first.
12) Future: Where do you see your Venture going? What products/services do you want to add to your existing offerings? What is your ultimate, audacious goal for your business? What company do you aspire to become or beat?
- We are very confident about our product and are sure that it will be doing great in the long run also. Aiming to make the presence of Kulchas n More national and international in the coming years. But also to make sure the originality and brand image never fades. We as a company want to be better versions of ourselves each day and by doing so we want to be us and no one else.
13) Out of the Box: What role do you expect a franchise advisor to play? What one should consider before giving out a franchise?
- A franchise advisor should bring more and more quality franchise to a brand and also should keep their eyes open for those who depend on them and have hope from them to help the brands associated to increase their business. Before giving out a franchise one should be very much clear about the company terms and conditions. Everything should be crystal clear so that future problems doesn’t arise, clear communication helps to save time, money, and patience.
14) Experience Sharing: Share your experience with your Current franchisees? Any incident which you would like to share with others it Can be (Franchisee Journey/Testimonial)? Any advice you would have for brands who are planning to go on franchise?
- Our experience with our current franchise are so far so good. Sometimes it might have happened that there were miscommunications and communication gap, but those things are inevitable. The best we can do is always have head-to-head conversations and discuss everything clearly. Communication is the key. And also, always keep a steady track of all accounts and don’t depend on someone else to keep your share of track.
