Poland-based AmRest Holdings SE, which has several restaurants across Central and Eastern Europe, could likely bring the Florida-based Burger King to India, world's second largest burger-chain after McDonalds. The company already has started setting up its chain of Italian cuisine restaurant La Tagliatella in India. The first La Tagliatella restaurant will open in the country in the middle of this year.
Further, the Polish company holds franchise and joint venture partnerships for six brands that includes Burger King, KFC, PizzaHut, Starbucks Coffee and Applebees. While KFC and PizzaHut are present in India through their mother company Yum! Restaurants India, Starbucks recently forged an alliance with Tata Global Beverages. In an interview with Business Standard, Henry McGovern, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AmRest Holdings, said, "We want to become a multi-brand operator, we don't want to have just La Tagliatella here. Once we build the management capability, we will look to an acquisition and bring out a brand and at that point India will feature much more highly.” A breakaway from the regular trend adopted by multinational companies from the service industry, of only lending its brand, AmRest is investing between 1-2 million (Rs 7 crore) per restaurant for the Italian brand and has tentatively kept aside Rs 500 crore for expansions. La Tagliatella is a brand owned by AmRest Holdings. "We have six brands in our potfolio and over the next few years, we will have more brands as we look for other markets and other business opportunities. It all boils down to what is appropriate for the market or what the market needs. So, we will have more brands to operate from than what we have now", McGovern added. If Burger King finalises plans with AmRest Holdings for the India market, this would be its fresh attempt at breaking into the India's quick-service restaurant market worth $13 billion (Rs 63,700 crore) and growing roughly 25-30 per cent a year, according to Euromonitor and market research firm RNCOS. India's entire food-service market is estimated at $64 billion (Rs 313,600 cr).
Source
Commis II Continental - Jobs in India