Founded in March 2016,Chef Arjun Thakkar and Ravi Bajaj, Wakhra Swaad serves North Indian cuisine and it has expertly positioned itself at the intersection of tradition and innovation within the North Indian cuisine. Chef Arjun, inspired by his great-grandfather’s Urdu recipe book, translated these recipes into Hindi, ensuring the authenticity of North Indian flavors. The brand has successfully leveraged its deep-rooted heritage to create a dining experience that seamlessly integrates age-old recipes, with contemporary culinary practices. This strategic blend not only preserves the authenticity of North Indian cuisine but also appeals to modern tastes, effectively bridging the gap between tradition and today’s dynamic food landscape.
How Wakhra Swaad has transformed North Indian Kitchen operations for Franchising?
The primary challenge for North Indian restaurants lies in formulating authentic recipes and maintaining year-round consistency. The worldwide principal problem under North-Indian Cuisine is as the chef changes, the quality changes. However, at Wakhra Swaad, to maintain consistency, and to solve this problem, they have established a centralized supply chain which means everything will be supplied from the Wakhra Swaad’s base kitchen to the unit franchise which includes key ingredients like including pre-mixes masalas, curries, chaaps, tikka, momos, and other raw material. This ensures, plug-and-play model for the franchisee and enables the franchisee to ensure smooth operations at the same time eliminate the scope of errors.
Milestones
This strategy has been pivotal in delivering consistent taste, as evidenced by their impressive Zomato rating of 4.4 from over 50,000 reviews.
Their commitment to quality has earned the trust of prominent brands like Godrej, Paytm, Ddecor, HCL, India TV, SoDelhi, Curly Tales, TripAdvisor, and LBB, which regularly engage Wakhra Swaad for event catering.
Arjun, the co-founder of Wakhra Swaad, shares, “We have spent the last 7-8 years working on the backend, ensuring the consistency of our food quality, which is one of the biggest challenges in North Indian cuisine. With over a decade of experience and already running 4 successful outlets, we are now ready to expand and have partnered with BBFT to help us achieve this vision.”
Target Audience and Market Reach
North Indian, being the comfort food, Wakhra Swaad has a wide range of audience to cater to, including young professionals, millennials, families, and corporate clients. The ability to blend traditional flavors with modern twists attracts a wide range of customers. The average ticket size ranges from ₹700 to ₹1,500 for couples, ₹1,500 to ₹2,500 for families and small groups, and ₹5,000 and above for large groups and corporate events.
Financial Insights and Expansion Plans
Opening a Wakhra Swaad restaurant requires capital expenditure ranging between ₹50 lakh and ₹1 crore, where 30- 35% is allocated for the construction cost and 25-30% goes for the equipment, with an average ROI of 70% per annum and a payback period of 18-24 months. Plans are in place to scale up to 10 outlets by next year through a hybrid expansion model of self-owned and franchised locations.’
Rohit Singh, Founder BBFT, while announcing Wakhra’s expansion plan states, “ There’s a big gap in the north Indian brands in the market, despite India being the home to North Indian cuisine to the world. The biggest challenge while expanding any North Indian brand is the consistency in taste, and Wakhra over the years have invented their tech and systems in such a way, that I am confident they will be the game changers in the north Indian segment. I and BBFT are excited about this collaboration, and we promise to give our all in to transform them into a success story!”
Future Outlook
Our vision for the future is clear – to celebrate the fusion of tradition and modernity in North Indian cuisine. As Wakhra Swaad continues to grow, we plan to introduce new dishes inspired by the evolving culinary landscape and open new locations to reach a broader audience.
The partnership between BBFT and Wakhra Swaad represents a significant milestone in the culinary landscape. With a deep respect for the past and an eye on the future, Wakhra Swaad continues to enchant diners with its rich, flavorful, and innovative dishes. Together, we are shaping the future of North Indian cuisine, one delicious dish at a time.
