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“The goal is to double revenue compared to current year”
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Monday, 07 November, 2022, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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 VRO hospitality currently owns 25 high-end restaurant brands, and is one of the fastest-growing chains. The brand is on an aggressive expansion drive and plans to open around 60 outlets shortly, this move would also help them to run 100 cloud kitchens.
VRO Hospitality has raised $3 million from CreedCap Asia in series A funding and running at a 22% EBITDA profit and its revenues have increased by 4.1 times since October 2020.
Dawn Thomas, managing director, VRO Hospitality, shares his thoughts about current scenario of the food and beverage industry, concept of cloud kitchens, latest trends in restaurants, growth plans and lots more, in an email interview with Kimberley Almeida. Excerpts:
How would you describe the current scenario of the food and beverage industry?
After staying locked-in due to the pandemic, people are heading out with a lot more expectations and purchasing power. They are a lot more educated about the highest standard of dining experience around the world. Hence, the Indian food and beverage industry is now working on levelling up its game and meeting these high consumer expectations.
Give us a brief about the company’s offerings.
Ours is a Bengaluru-based food and beverageorganisation that has thrived in captivating its audience with state-of-the-art events, incredible food, and curation of wholesome experiences in the city of Bangalore since 2018. We own chic, upscale bars and restaurants that are hard to miss in the city. We currently operate 15 outlets and have 5 upcoming projects lined up!
The brands include Badmaash Lounge, Hangover, Plan B, Nevermind, Cafe Noir, and Tycoons. VRO as an organisation seeks to establish itself in the pan-Indian market and overseas as well. Cafe Noir and TakiTaki were pioneers in pitching the VRO flag at uncharted territories of the organisation. Apart from this, the company has also set its sights on international grounds as well.
The concept of cloud kitchens is on the rise. Elaborate.
With Bangalore, Mumbai and Goa being the most diverse food and beverage markets in the country, we at VRO have been able to analyse food habits and trends with the help of our brick and mortar outlets which cater to different demographic and lifestyle segments. This has helped us curate products which we believe will be catering to high volume and under tapped segments. Also, we have an operational production and supply chain team in place to propel our cloud brands in the right direction.
Tell us your observations of the latest trends seen in restaurants across India.
Atomising of kitchens, Shorter KPT products, Hybrid models (QSR + Cloud) - This helps cover costs for prime delivery area real estate.
What is the company’s long term plan for sustainability?
To offer a wide range of services to a range of target audiences where the services and quality is affordable and content.
What are the key factors that would differentiate your brand from the existing brands in the market?
The key factor includes reaching every aspect and requirement curating the best services for a wide range of audience and providing top tier experience and demographic.
What are the challenges faced by the company since its debut in 2018?
Covid was one of the major challenges we faced since debut as we had to discover various methods to connect the brand to the audience whilst maintaining safety measures as well as to monetise and maintain the standard of services and staff without having to depreciate.
What was your last fiscal year like and what are you expecting?
The revenue has been promising and our motto has been to always look for ways to improve, the goal is to aim high and to double the revenue compared to the current year.
What are the company’s plans on future expansion and collaborations?
We are opening 30 outlets in the next 6 months and also incurring our market through Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ooty as well as in Bombay on a very high scale.
Any plans for expansion in foreign markets?
Dubai and South-East Asia, as well as London, and we’re expecting to be launching full fledged by 2023.
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