New Delhi|HL
Ajanta Pharma plans to invest over Rs 100 crores to expand its quick-service restaurant business Wok Express, expanding the presence in Mumbai and making an entry in four places including New Delhi and Bengaluru.
The company has invested about Rs 6 crores so far on setting up and operating the five outlets in Mumbai, said director Aayush Agrawal, the son of Madhusudan Agrawal, one of the copromoters of Ajanta Pharma. Inspired by ‘Wok to Walk’, a restaurant in New York that allows customers to make their own Asian recipes, Wok Express will compete with Chinese restaurants such as Yo! China and other QSR brands.
Almost half of its business comes from takeaway orders. The company is planning to open 20 more outlets in Mumbai by 2017, investing about Rs 20 crores. Agarwal said it can take over four months to recover the cost of an outlet. After this, the company plans to set up 100 restaurants across Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
