Speciality Restaurants to invest Rs 40 cr, to open 8-12 new outlets

Kolkata, March 15 (IANS) Speciality Restaurants Ltd, a leading chain of fine and casual dining in India with brands like Mainland China, Sigree, Machaan, Haka, Cafe Mezzuna, and many others, is planning to invest Rs 40 crore in the next two years to open new restaurants and consolidate existing ones, a company official said on Thursday.

"We will be investing around Rs 40 crore over the next two years to open new restaurants as well as consolidating of existing restaurants. We intend to open 8-12 new restaurants in the next 18 months," company's Founder and Managing Director Anjan Chatterjee told reporters.

The debt-free company, which had currently 125 restaurants and confectioneries, plans to make this investment from its internal accruals, he said at the celebrations of 25 years of its journey.

"Apart from presence across India, we have one restaurant in Colombo, two in Dhaka, two in Tanzania, one in Doha, and we are opening one in Dubai next month," he said.

The company clocked a revenue of Rs 229.44 crore in the April-December period of the current fiscal and its turnover was at Rs 317.66 crore in 2016-17.

Chatterjee also said that the restaurant industry has been singled out by removal of the input tax credit in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime and such move has restricted the restaurant industry's growth prospects.