Top 10 locations to invest in restaurant biz

The love of Indians for food stands equal with the size of Indian food market. Reason being, several food businesses have dished out recipes from the kitchen to the customers’ plate and more importantly at the place where these small yet lip smacking food joints thrive. Here’s a low down on India’s top food hubs and what makes them so enchanting. In today’s retail scenario, location does play a key role in driving footfall. Today, restaurants are looking for the unexplored locations.

Dishing out on Top Locations                                 

Located at the heart of South Delhi, Sangam Courtyard has become the new hot locations for the restaurant owners to open their restaurant. Surrounded by posh residential catchment, the area has seen some of the top most restaurants opening their outlet. With restaurant size of approximately 1,000-2,000 sq ft, the rental goes at Rs 200-350/ per sq ft.

Likewise, CyberHub, situated at the heart of DLF Cyber City which is the corporate hub in Gurgaon, caters to corporate in the vicinity and also to the catchment in and around Gurgaon. At an average rental of Rs 375-425/ sq ft, the restaurant here is spread across 2,000-25, 00 sq ft.

According to experts, being a complete food mall, CyberHub is giving more revenue than any other mall as it is getting a heavy footfall and traffic not only on weekends but also on weekdays.

UB City is the biggest luxury commercial property project in Bengaluru, India. Pioneered by the chairman of UB Group, Vijay Mallya, in Joint Venture with Prestige Group, it is located at The Central Business District of Bangalore. The land prices are sky high with restaurant rentals going at Rs 250- 300/ sq ft for an area of around 25,00-35,00 sq ft.

Renting it high

Locations like Khan Market in Delhi which is nestled in one of the most affluent and expensive residential neighbourhoods of Delhi, is rented at Rs 600-800/ sq ft, making it the most costliest place for a restaurant to be. But when it comes to growth, restaurants have seen a 4x growth in a year from this location.

Similarly, Epicuria Mall in Delhi is the second most expensive location to place your brand. Charging an average of Rs 400-500/sq ft, the area has become the next place to be for its location. Located at Nehru Place metro stations and in proximity to corporate offices, it has got some of the amazing brands like Burger King, FIO Cookhouse & Bar, The Beer Café, Dunkin’ Donuts amongst others.

“Many of the landlords at bigger complexes, when they bring in Burger King to their complex their valuation for the remaining property goes up and they are able to rent out some at higher rate because BK is there,” pointed Rajeev Varman, CEO, Burger King India.

Surrounded by posh residential areas and residences of movie stars, Bandra in Mumbai is another location which is high on rentals. Average restaurants here spend around Rs 300-400/ sq ft to get a good location.

“I go to a sight and feel it in a sense what people in that particular area would prefer to eat and what will be the footfall. My target is based on the traffic received by the brand in that particular area,” shared Zorawar Kalra, MD and Founder Massive Restaurants.

Trending on concepts

As casual dining is globally gaining ground, the segment is forming the second largest segment (31 per cent) of the total restaurant business. Seeking the continuous interest from investors, casual dining segment has grown tremendously in last few years. The segment has spiced things up for the investors, particularly PEs who is increasingly innovating with their existing brand by incorporating new items on menu.

Locations like Bandra Kurla Complex and Hiranandani Estate Powai in Mumbai, Indiranagar in Bengaluru, and Park Street in Kolkata has seen the surge in casual dining restaurants, pubs, and QSR spreading across the area. With an average rental of Rs 200- 400/ sq ft, these regions have seen brands like Busago, Yautacha, Paninaro, Pizza Hut, Peter cat amongst others.

“Casual dining has the brands which is for the masses rather than for classes which means that your break even or future growth is more and fast paced and there is the flexibility because if you go to a fine-dine concept you have to stick to it or otherwise you have to kill the brand and do something else,” said, Uday Menon, CBO, Barbeque Nation.

Hence, we can say that with India becoming the biggest food hub in the world, these locations may get a towering growth rate in next few years.