F&B News

US Pizza goes deeper into Gujarat

Plans to launch two more fast food brands in India

EH Staff - Rajkot

US Pizza, managed by United Pizza Restaurant, has signed an MoU with Saurashtra-based Royal Eatery to set up 14 outlets in the region. Akbar Khwaja, MD of United Pizza Restaurant , said, "We will also be looking at developing similar master franchise network in other regions of the nation. We also have tie-ups with Hindustan Petroleum (HP) and the 600 HP outlets allow us to follow the plug and play set-up."

In all tier II and III cities the outlets will be based on a sit-down and a take-away format, while in tier I cities they will also look at the delivery format. HH Mandhatasinh Jadeja, promoter of Royal Eatery, said, "We plan to set up minimum of five US pizza outlets per year in the region."

Apart from US Pizza, United Pizza Restaurants is also looking at developing two other fast-food models - Toastyz, which is a sandwich store based out of Hyderabad and yet to be named Indian fast food joint that will provide Indian food like samosas, kachoris, kathi rolls, etc.

These three brands will together have 1,000 outlets by 2011. United Pizza Restaurant will look at funding through various sources. 49 per cent has been acquired by Kotecha Capital. It will also raise debt as and when required. The total investment is expected to be approximately Rs 500 crore, informed Khwaja.

US Pizza is a European pizza brand founded and developed by food technologist Vahid Berenjian. The brand was introduced in India in 1994 and right now is also looking at exporting readymade heat-and-eat pizza and kathi rolls from India to Europe.