New Delhi: Délifrance, a premium French bakery and cafe chain with a presence in 100 countries, will start operations in India from December. Bahri Hospitality and Cuisines Pvt. Ltd, a new player in the hospitality industry, will facilitate its entry.
Bahri Hospitality will act as the master franchisee for the India business, and will set up 30 stores across three formats by 2028. Half of these stores will be directly owned and operated by the company.
Bahri almost invested ₹9 crores on establishing a manufacturing facility, base plant, and warehouse in Delhi. This facility will initially serve the Delhi-NCR. In the development phase, the focus will be on expanding to other markets, starting with Hyderabad and Bengaluru, said Hemant Bahri, founder and managing director of Bahri group, which has interests in the real estate sector in southern India.
The first store will open in Delhi’s Defense Colony in the coming weeks. The brand specializes in French breads, viennoiserie, relishes and pastries. With a 40-year history, it runs more than 200 stores worldwide under the Délifrance brand. “India is a nascent market for bakery products. In the long run, this format will be quite profitable. This is a premium chain and in India we will have three different formats, from small takeaway to medium and large format operations. The capex will be at ₹40 lakh ₹1.15 crore depending on the size,” Bahri told Mint.
Five of these stores will open in the NCR market by the end of this fiscal year 2024.
The company has factories in France, Europe and Asia and also operates a unique international business network, where it serves the main hotel chains around the world.
Fabrice Herlax, the company’s director of international marketing and concept strategy, said entering the Indian subcontinent was an interesting challenge. But we have the ability to connect and adapt to the local tastes and tastes. We will also have tailored training programs for Indians with the support of our bakery school in Paris,” he said.
Next to the parent company Grands Moulins de Paris, founded in 1919 in Paris, Délifrance SA is owned by French peasant agro-industrial cooperative VIVESCIA which has 11,000 farmers as shareholders.
The company will compete with premium operators such as Paul and other organized chains such as Suchali’s.
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Updated: 22 Nov 2023, 23:06 IST