An alumnus from the prestigious St. Stephen’s College

Restaurants. An alumnus from the prestigious St. Stephen’s College (Delhi University), Niren did his MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies and even had a stint with Tata Administrative Service, before joining the yummy brigade over a decade ago. In fact, before Niren was deputed by Yum! Restaurants on mission India, he served in various capacities with the restaurant major in Netherlands and Germany, where he served as General Manager, KFC. “I feel privileged to have been with a company like Yum! in various countries and various cultures. Of course, the European market is very different from Indian market. But still the knowledge that I gained from working with KFC in Germany or any other country has helped a lot in setting the groundwork for Indian operations. We were one of the pioneers among the global brands to enter India,” Chauhary told 4Ps B&M. Yum! forayed onto the Indian platter in 1996 with two of its flagship brands KFC and Pizza Hut. But that was the year when other global rivals in the QSR domain (read: Domino’s and McDonald’s) also ventured in the country. Competition for a slice of the taste buds was furious and intense. Consequently, Big Mac with its Indianised menu and ‘easy on the pocket’ products stole the show, while KFC and Pizza Hut were left being perceived as high priced chains and missed out on the initial fast food brouhaha in the country. Soon KFC had to even bid adieu to Indian soil. “We made certain mistakes and we had our lessons to learn,” reminisces Niren. Pizza Hut however stayed put and as Yum! Restaurants gradually blended the pizza chain’s value proposition with Indian market realities - made its products relevant to Indian consumers and localized its offerings - things started looking up. “We soon became the leader in the pizza segment in India and then in 2005 we again re-introduced KFC,” explains Niren. Today with sales in Pizza Hut zooming by 50%, boasting an overall market share of 30%; and with 134 Pizza Hut outlets and 27 KFC spread across 134 cities and 9 cities (respectively), Yum! is indeed having yummy times in India. But now, competition of a different type is on the anvil, from new kids on the Indian block (read Burger King); who have lined up to play their part in the India story.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Rashmi Bansal Publisher of JAMMAG magazine caught red-handed, for details click on the following links.

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)