Everstone Capital-controlled Pan India Food Solutions Pvt. Ltd has sold casual dining brand Bombay Blue to Yellow Tie Hospitality Management LLP, a food and beverage franchise management company, for an undisclosed sum.
Everstone Capital holds about 89% stake in Pan India Food Solutions, which operates under the brand Blue Foods.
Karan Tanna, founder of Yellow Tie Hospitality, told VCCircle they have acquired only the intellectual property rights associated with Bombay Blue.
Blue Foods has shut all operating restaurants of Bombay Blue.
Tanna said Yellow Tie Hospitality will revamp the brand and relaunch it.
Yellow Tie Hospitality is planning to open five outlets under the Bombay Blue brand in 2019. It plans to have 100 outlets by 2025.
The development was first reported by The Economic Times.
Founded in 2015, Yellow Tie Hospitality has developed three restaurant brands on its own -- Dhadoom, Twist of Tadka and BB Jaan.
In May last year, Yellow Tie Hospitality acquired controlling stakes in two quick-service restaurant brands Umraan and Wok This Way. It made these acquisitions for its restaurant incubator programme.
Yellow Tie Hospitality also has exclusive licensing agreements for international brands such as Genuine Broaster Chicken from the US, Just Falalfel from Dubai and Wrapchic from England.
The company provides support to franchisee partners in the form of setting up shop, sourcing kitchen equipment and initial hand-holding.
Blue Foods
Blue Foods operates food and restaurant chains under various brands including Spaghetti Kitchen, ice-cream parlour Gelato Italiano, café chain The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Noodle Bar. It operates two food courts Food Talk and Spoon, according to a report by Brickwork Ratings in November 2017.
Pan India previously also operated two Copper Chimney outlets as a franchisee of K Hospitality Corp’s Charcoal Concepts. Last year, Charcoal Concepts acquired the Copper Chimney outlets, Karan Kapur, director at K Hospitality, told VCCircle. Kapur’s family separately holds a minority stake in Pan India.
Pan India’s consolidated net sales stood at Rs 50.3 crore for the year through March 2018, down from Rs 111.88 crore the previous year. The firm narrowed net loss to Rs 4.3 crore from Rs 42.8 crore, according to VCCEdge, the data intelligence platform of News Corp VCCircle.
Pan India said in its filings with the Registrar of Companies that it closed some loss-making units, mainly restaurants, in 2017-18. This led to reduction in outlets, revenue and headcount, which went from 980 in 2016-17 to 282 in 2017-18. It didn’t disclose the number of loss-making units and outlets it shut down.
Apart from Blue Foods, Everstone Capital controls pan-Asian food and beverage business platform F&B Asia Ventures, which is the master franchise of Burger King in India and Indonesia.
Everstone Capital has also invested in Gurugram-based Massive Restaurants, which operates under the brands Made in Punjab, Masala Library, Farzi Café and Pa Pa Ya. The other brands under F&B Asia Ventures include Pind Balluchi and Harry’s.
*This article has been updated to modify details regarding the Copper Chimney outlets.
