Jubilant Foodworks Ltd (JFL) will be opening Dunkin Donut's stores in India tailored to suit the local market demands in order to differentiate it from other rivals,including Starbucks which is also set to foray into the country. JFL had announced its master franchise agreement with the US' baked food and coffee chain Dunkin Donut's last year. It will open the first store for the brand in first quarter of next fiscal. "Dunkin Donut's will be positioned differently in India than any other coffee chain.We will launch a little bit tweaked model of Dunkin compared to anywhere else in the world," JFL CEO Ajay Kaul told reporters on a conference call. Details of the plans will be announced a little later and meanwhile a factory in Noida is being set up for the same,he said. When asked if entry of Starbucks in partnership with Tata Global Beverages is likely to impact Dunkin Donut's plans,he said: "If more brands come into the country it is better for a particular industry. Coffee consumption trend is anyway very ew in India. So we welcome competition in the market." JFL had announced plans to set up 80-100 Dunkin Donut's stores beginning with the metros in the next five years,with a long term 15 years target of 500 stores here. Starbucks,on the other hand,has recently announced a joint venture with Tata Global Beverages to foray into India,with first outlet likely to come up later this year. JFL is also holding talks with other international food brand to bring them into India. "We are discussing with other international brands. Talks are at various stages but we are not in a hurry to make any announcement," Kaul said. JFL,which is also a franchisee for Domino's Pizza in India,Nepal,Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,is also looking to expand operations in the region. "We have already opened one store in Sri Lanka. Two new stores will be opened in another two months.we are also upbeat about Bangladesh and are in the process of finding the partners. We should be able to make some announcement in the next one year," Kaul said. In India JFL currently operates 439 Domino's Pizza outlets. The company has estimated a total capital expenditure of Rs 100 crore for this fiscal that includes opening new stores and setting/relocating commissaries for the Indian market. "In the next fiscal,the investment will certainly increase," Kaul said.commenting on input costs pressures going ahead he said: "The pressure of ingredient cost was really high in the last 12-15 months. Going forward the pressure will not be too much.We had taken a 5 per cent price hike on our products in November,but in the next 3-5 months we do not for-see any hike."
