Sankalp to foray in food retailing

AHMEDABAD: Homegrown food brand Sankalp will make its food retailing foray by March with a range of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook processed foods, a top company executive said.
“Having catered to Indian and international customers with our signature sambar (spicy South Indian curry) and other Manglorean delicacies, it is time to offer it to Indian customers a range of our other products off-the-shelf,” said Kailash Goenka, chairman and managing director, Sankalp Group.

The Rs 175-crore company will compete with MTR, GITS and McCain in the category as it aspires to make processed food a Rs 300 crore business over five years.

Sankalp is the flagship brand of the group’s subsidiary, Sankalp Recreation Pvt Ltd, which owns brands such as Saffron, Sam’s Pizza and Salt N Pepper. Sankalp Recreation contributes over Rs 100 crore to the group’s kitty.

The company’s processed foods division, which has been supplying frozen curries and pastes to its restaurant chains and institutional buyers, will cater to business-to-customer while continuing with business-to-business model.

The division produces 10 tonne of sambar per day at its Mehsana facility in Gujarat, which is frozen and sent to over 150 Sankalp outlets in India and the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and West Asia. It also produces 45,000 idlis and 5 tonne of pastes to go with the Manglorean cuisine it specialises in.

Sankalp has enticed PEs with its prospects—30 per cent year-on-year growth, backed by its chain of restaurants. “We are on a bull run since 2012-13 when there were a mere 100 outlets,” said Jolly Christian, general manager at Sankalp Recreation.

“I want to ensure that Sankalp generates over Rs 400 crore turnover with a chain of 500 outlets (franchised and company-owned) before I would divest,” Goenka said. “Near 300 franchise outlets and near 200 company-owned outlets would ensure the brand penetrates all markets well and gives us sizeable recognition.”

Meanwhile, the company has fended off abusers of its brand name. “We got two restaurants in Ahmedabad and three in the US, using Sankalp as a brand, closed,” Goenka said, adding that he has not got the secret formula of Sankalp sambar patented. “I can’t let the ingredients out,” he said.