Jubilant plans 3000-store pizza topping

Developed by JFL’s in-house team of 250 product, UX, tech, and data science professionals, Elate is designed to enhance order-taking, store operations, and customer experiences. The cloud-first POS, which integrates with JFL’s apps for Domino’s, Popeyes, Dunkin’ and Hong’s Kitchen across India and international markets, also aims to cut employee training time. The tech upgrade has been rolled out across 50 stores.

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“We are expanding from 2,000 to 3,000 stores, and we will need to completely digitize and bring a lot of AI in our store management. You will see a series of launches happening every six months,” Sameer Khetarpal, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd said in an interview with Mint at the company’s office in Noida.

JFL group network comprises 3,260 stores across six markets—India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The group has franchise rights for three global brands—Domino’s, Popeyes and Dunkin’; it also operates two own-brands, Hong’s Kitchen in India, and COFFY in Turkey. Domino’s operates 2,139 stores across 466 cities in India.

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Commenting on JFL’s expansion plans, Khetarpal said the company will add between 30 and 50 stores annually for Popeyes. The fried-chicken chain currently operates 60 stores in India.

For Domino’s, the company plans to get to 3,000 stores over the next three years. “There is enough and more demand. Our competition is not with other pizza players, but with local street food,” he added.

In the three months ended 31 December Jubilant FoodWorks posted 19% year-on-year growth in standalone revenue. Domino’s India added 60 new stores. The delivery business saw 30% year-on-year revenue growth while dine-in revenue fell 2%. The waiver of delivery charges continues to shift demand from dine-in to delivery.

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“We believe dine-in will grow because last year we moved to free delivery that just provided a lot of growth on the delivery side. As the base corrects, we do expect dining to also grow,” he said.

In the December quarter the quick service restaurant market reported a sequential improvement in demand even while consumer sentiments stayed weak. Growth was led by orders while the ticket size lagged as companies enhanced their value offerings in order to drive footfalls, per a February report by Jefferies.

The company has been trying to appeal to inflation-sensitive households.

In 2022-Domino’s Pizza launched 20-minute pizza delivery in select markets. In 2023 it announced a brand refresh for its flagship pizzas. It continues to sell pizzas priced at ₹49.

“Customers love speed. We should continue to push the boundaries on speed,” he said. Nearly 70% of Domino’s deliveries are now within 20 minutes. “As we speak, we are working to launch guaranteed 20 minute delivery in the top 7 cities,” he said.

The promoters of HT Media Ltd, which publishes Mint, and Jubilant Bhartia Group are closely related. There are, however, no promoter cross-holdings.