New Delhi: Rebel Foods will invest ₹100-150 crore to help Wendy’s, the American burger chain, expand its footprint in India to 500 locations by 2028.
The Wendy’s Company plans to add 300 new delivery-only kitchens and standalone outlets in India through its local partner, Rebel Foods. The move follows the burger chain’s recently announced plans to add 1,000 new restaurants globally by 2028.
Currently, Wendy’s operates in 200 locations in India; of these, 185 are cloud kitchens, while another 15 are offline stores. Going forward, the expansion will be skewed towards delivery-only kitchens.
“In 2.5-3 years, Rebel will grow to around 700 cloud kitchen locations; at least 70% of them will have a Wendy’s kitchen,” Ankush Grover, co-founder and CEO, India, Rebel Foods told Mint. “By 2028 we are targeting at least 500 locations (for Wendy’s). For this, we are working on various models.”
“Around ₹100-150 crores will go on capex and brand building activities,” he added.
Rebel Foods, primarily a cloud kitchen operator, currently runs over 450 cloud kitchens in 75 cities across India, the Middle East, North Africa, Indonesia, and the UK. Their portfolio includes popular food brands like Behrouz Biryani, Ovenstory Pizza, Mandarin Oak, The Good Bowl, and Slay Coffee.
Moving forward, 70% of planned openings will consist of delivery kitchens, with the remaining 30% being traditional brick-and-mortar stores, Grover said.
Wendy’s India journey
Wendy’s entered India in 2016, but has since seen a change in its local partnerships in the market.
In 2020, Rebel Foods acquired the licence to exclusively develop Wendy’s cloud kitchens in India. In 2023, Rebel Foods entered into a deal with Wendy’s to develop and expand the burger chain’s offline restaurants in India, ending the chain’s erstwhile partnership with Sierra Nevada.
Wendy’s competes with McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC in India.
“India is a very important part of this (expansion) plan. This is a very big market. The business model is now firing. We’re very conscious that we need to be accessible across many different consumer-use locations,” Chris Conway, senior vice-president, APMEA & Europe for The Wendy’s Company, told Mint.
“Be it that you like to eat at home or dine-in at our stores. We are conscious of this generation, how they like to eat, and what convenience means to them,” Conway said.
Profitability issues
India’s quick-service restaurant (QSR) market is expected to clock a compound annual growth rate of 23% between FY21 and FY2025. The food services market was estimated at ₹4,236 billion in FY20, according to a report by Edelweiss Securities.
Fast food businesses are facing profitability pressures due to high inflation and increased competition. While delivery services remain strong, dine-in demand saw a slight improvement towards the end of the recent fiscal third quarter, according to Motilal Financial Services.
This narrowed the revenue gap between dine-in and delivery. However, weak overall growth continues to strain operating, restaurant, and Ebitda margins for most quick service restaurant chains.
Grover acknowledged a demand slowdown after November, but indicated a sequential improvement. He anticipates the upcoming cricket IPL season to drive growth for fast food businesses.
In December 2024, Rebel secured $210 million in a Series G round led by Temasek.
Also Read: India’s quick food delivery face-off: Whose data is it anyway?
