“India is one of the top five priority markets”

Five Star Chicken is laying its core focus on first getting the right site and second on getting the right franchisee. Sanjeev Pant, Senior Vice President, CP Foods shares more on his company’s plans and offerings in India.

Tell us more about Five Star Chicken.

Five Star Chicken was founded in the year 1985 in Thailand, comes from a Thai multi-national conglomerate- Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods). It is one of the most popular brands in Asia with presence in nine countries with more than 7000 outlets in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, China and Bangladesh. In India, the brand launched its first outlet in November 2012 in Bangalore and has grown rapidly in South India.

CP Foods in India has 275 Five Star Chicken stores in Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore, Kochi, Salem, Kozhikode, Goa and Hyderabad. 

What new does Five Star Chicken bring to the Indian market when already many brands are there in this category?

We are a strong believer in providing high quality, food safety, nutrition and great value to the end consumer. We ensure total quality and food safety throughout the supply chain as well as passing on the benefits of great value and savings to the end consumer. Our business model is the small foot print format e.g. takeaway counters with limited seating and kiosk formats as compared to other players in the industry and we keep our outlets very close to where our consumer's live and work, thus, providing a great deal of convenience in their everyday lives.

What business model do you follow in India and what opportunities are there for prospective franchisees?

India is one of the top five priority markets for CP Foods globally. We have a scientific approach for setting any Five Star Chicken store, there are two important criteria in this process first is getting the right site and second is getting the right franchisee.

We follow the franchisee selection form to choose the right franchisee, where a candidate has to meet the desired criterion for becoming Five Star Chicken franchisee. And in parallel, a lot of emphasis is given on choosing the right location which is verified based on the catchment analysis form for a profitable business. This follows other procedures ahead.

What are your expansion plans in India?

Our plan is to continue to focus in South India in next few years. We intend to open 100-150 outlets in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, besides opening new outlets in our existing markets in next two years. In 2016-2017 timeframe, we are also planning to launch our frozen and packaged food brand in India, with our line of chicken sausages, nuggets and other frozen items.

Our plan is to encourage local entrepreneurs in metros as well as in smaller towns. Franchising provides great opportunity for entrepreneurs to start their own business. So, nearly 90 per cent of our outlets are franchisee-owned and operated.  We want to double our outlets to 500 from present 275 in next four years via expanding in metros as well as smaller towns and via the franchising route.

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