Mapple group to expand Blue Note Café outlets

To invest Rs five crore

Sanjeev Bhar - New Delhi

The Mapple Group is expanding its casual café concept to metro and some other tier II cities. Speaking to Express Hospitality, Upendra Singh Jamwal, vice president, business development and operations, Mapple Group informed, "We are taking the casual café concept brand - Blue Note Café (BNC) - to other cities after getting positive response from the first one in Goa. The company is planning to invest around Rs five crore for the initial expansion phase where the outlets will be developed on owned and leased basis formats."

Accordingly, the outlets will be designed to offer a seating capacity of 60-100 pax and the company is planning to launch 10 to 12 outlets by the year end. "Each BNC outlet will require approximately Rs 30-50 lakh via investments and funding will be internally sourced. We have identified the cities of Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad for the initial phase. We will be aiming aggressively at places with high footfall like multiplexes, malls, etc," Jamwal said. BNC is being promoted as a one-stop shop for burgers, kebabs, pastas, sambar and dosas. "The emphasis at BNC outlets would be primarily on bakery products along with combo meals to be provided for those looking forward to a restaurant environment for their meals. It would also have selected desserts and Oriental dishes," he added.

Mapple Group has established hotels in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, and Jodhpur, and is following it up with properties in Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Parks. Apart from that, the company is also planning to take its subsidiary arm - Corporate Gourmet Solutions (that offers corporate lunches and dinners in Bangalore) to other cities. We have invested Rs 40 lakh for the Bangalore operations where the facilities are sourced from the Mapple Whitefield Bangalore property. "We are soon planning to start the facility for the Gurgaon region as well as various IT hubs," said Jamwal.