Veg Roll? 2 Minutes!

For someone who's travelled the globe as a venture capitalist, 58-year-old Kiran Nadkarni is a veteran at eating out. But he spotted a big gap: there was no easy-to-order Indian fare. How about veggies or meat rolled in a paratha? Fast (two minutes now) and tasty.

So it was that Nadkarni-who had headed ICICI Ventures and Draper India, and then founded JumpStartUp-decided to get into QSRs with the launch of East West Ethnic Foods (and the Kaati Zone brand) in 2005.

"The last 15 years have seen the emergence of a younger, more mobile workforce, with larger disposable incomes and a willingness to eat out," he says. While some of this eating out is in fine dining joints, a bulk of it happens during the working day, when people prefer to grab a quick lunch or snack, he realised. (Nadkarni is aiming to cut down the roll-making time to 45 seconds.)

Nadkarni has spent the last five years building a stable backend-central commissary, technology backbone and sourcing raw materials-and is now ready for a rapid expansion. "We have the backing of Accel, Draper and Ashish Gupta of Helion Venture to fund our expansion," Nadkarni says.

Kaati Zone's central commissary despatches semi-baked parathas and the filling, all frozen, to its restaurants, cafes and counters, where they are assembled according to the customer's choice and microwaved. Initially, Kaati Zone owned all the outlets, but now it is roping in franchisees.

"We will take a measured approach to our expansion," says Nadkarni, whose goals from the first day have been to build a strong customer base, and sustained store revenues and profits. Kaati Zone plans to have in-dining restaurants as well as smaller outlets at malls, airports and offices.

"Western QSRs like McDonald's have spent time building their back-end operations and now have ambitious expansion plans…we want to capitalise on this potential," Nadkarni says. He is aware of the tasks ahead: "We have to scale up our central commissary to first deal with an entire city and then an entire region and then work on our supply chain to provision for our planned expansion," he says.

Around 70-80 per cent of the cooking is done centrally. The eateries have some extras like a grill and soda machines to help up-sell the roll into a meal complete with soft drinks, salads and wafers or chips. "A small menu is core to the success of the QSR business," Nadkarni admits. Finding this fine balance may be his toughest challenge yet.

KAATI ZONE

• COMPANY: East West Ethnic Foods
• OUTLETS NOW: 15, all in Bangalore
• GROWTH PLANS: Add 100 outlets in Chennai, Hyderabad
• BUSINESS MODEL: Franchise
• FUNDING: Accel India, Draper Investment Company, Ashish Gupta (Managing Director, Helion Venture)
• HOT PRODUCTS: Paratha rolls