DELHI-BASED BRAND Bikanervala Foods has launched a major international expansion programme. The traditional Indian sweets and namkeens producer, which has been established since the 1950s, is setting up manufacturing units in Dubai and Canada to assist its franchise expansion outside India.

Bikanervala Foods currently has 14 outlets under its Angan restaurants brand in Delhi, plus four in Nepal and two in Dubai. The Canadian manufacturing unit is being set up in a joint venture with Toronto-based NRI, which will then open its Canadian outlets under a master franchise agreement.

"We have recently received clearance from the Canadian Ministry of External Affairs for setting up an Indian fast food outlet-cum-sweet shop in Canada," General Manager-Retail Deepta Gupta told India's Business Standard. "After the outlet takes off, within a year we plan to set up manufacturing base, that will help us in future plans in Canada, and the US also. Currently there are problems in labour laws there, but they would soon be sorted out. The Canada factory would service a chain of six exclusive Bikanervala outlets that the company proposes to establish in the US and Canada over the coming years.

"We are exporting high quality Ready to Eat Snacks and Sweets in the brand name of Bikano. To expand our sphere of activities, we are on the lookout for new markets and buyers for our products. Currently, we are exporting to 18 countries including US, Canada, UK, Italy, Singapore Germany, Australia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Malaysia among others. We plan to take this number to 30 countries within five years from now.

"Our exports are 10 per cent of our domestic sales. We believe that there is a huge potential for exports and huge demand for our products through retail outlets abroad mainly where large number Indian diaspora (1.6 million in the US, 0.9 million in Canada and 1.2 million in UK). We plan to achieve a growth rate of 50 per cent annually."

Published: 10 May 2006

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