Charcoal Eats to expand in India

13/8/2019

PUNE: (HYDERABAD): Quick service restaurants (QSR) chain, Charcoal Eats, is planning to expand aggressively in India, by adding about 10-12 outlets in Hyderabad and 250 outlets across India in the next one year. Besides expanding in the 15 cities the company operates, it plans to foray into more tier-2 cities in the next 18 months.

Mumbai-based food company is currently present with over 50 dine-in and express outlets in 15 cities across eight States including Hyderabad, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Thane, Nashik, Gurugram, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur, Indore, Bengaluru and Jaipur. The company spends about Rs 10-12 lakh per outlet.

Anurag Mehrotra, co-founder & CEO of Charcoal Eats, said, “We saw a vacuum in the Indian food sector for food on the go. We wanted to build a food company in the country that will address this gap so that we can reach out to as many consumers as possible and scale up our business efficiently. We started our business in Mumbai, which is a very heterogeneous market. We had spread to other cities gradually. Our strategy had been to enter each city and make deeper inroads.”

“In Hyderabad too, we see there are many players and the market is huge. We will focus on providing both food and convenience to consumers. Consistency, quality and hygiene are going to be an integral in our growth strategy. We have created our first outlet in Jubilee Hills,” he added. The company claims to have achieved a 350 per cent growth in orders served, from April 2018 to December 2018, with approximately 48,000 orders in December 2018, up from 13,600 orders in April 2018.

The company offers all-day meal and snack options at various price points in dine-in, take away and express format. In addition to its own website, app and customer care for ordering delivery, Charcoal Eats is also available on all food platforms such as Uber Eats, Zomato, Swiggy, Foodpanda, Dine Out, etc. The company had started its operations with angel and seed funding, and raised pre-series A recently, with an aim to scale up operations and reach. The company has so far raised Rs 12.8 crore, with the last round of fund raising carried out in May 2018.

“We are anticipating the next round of funding soon this year to meet our future expansion needs,” he informed. Charcoal Eats will invest in new outlets, distribution points and technology to reach out to more consumers. The company is also making conscious effort to improve its packaging further. The company has invested in technology, efficiency and data. Every aspect of the value chain-supply chain, sourcing, distribution, forecasting, demand planning and forecasting is done based on the technology, he added.