As part of our franchise analysis series, in this article, we discuss a restaurant business franchise by the name of The Rolling Plate. The unique thing about this restaurant franchise business is that it is based on the FOCO model. Hence, the majority of the work is done by the franchise owner. We spoke with Mr Jahaan Khurana, the Director of The Rolling Plate about his business model. Read excerpts from the interview below.
Table of Contents
What is a cloud kitchen?
A cloud kitchen does not have space in the main market. Instead, it operates from a commercial building. Sp you hire a floor of a commercial building and run a kitchen from there. There is no direct customer service and seating in such situations. You only have to manage home delivery service. Thus, not having to service customers in a restaurant highly reduces the expenditure. Also, with the rise of online food delivery apps like Zomato Order, Swiggy, UberEats, FoodPanda, etc., the food delivery sector has seen a surge.
What is the restaurant business franchise model?
This restaurant business franchise is a unique business model. It is one of a kind concept in India. It was launched on 15th August 2019. The Rolling Plate is the parent company. The total investment in this business is Rs 2.9 lakh. For Rs 2.9 lakh we provide the franchisee with the ownership of a restaurant. Since it is a virtual online restaurant, there is no rental or salary to be paid. The entire business is worked online and a percentage of the income is shared with the franchisee. There are no other overheads to be paid. Our entire franchise works on a cloud kitchen basis.
Hence, under this FOCO (Franchise Owned Company Operated) the franchisee gets to choose one of our five restaurant brands. All the franchisee has to do is pay the sum of investment and monitor the workings on his phone. The rest of the business management, from renting space to hiring staff to make the food, is handled by the franchiser.
What are your 5 brands for this restaurant business franchise?
We have the following five brands available for franchising:
- Raja Bhoj & Co.
- Bhukha Sher
- Kahi Se Bhi
- Ballu Bawarchi
- Dana Paani
All these brands work on cloud kitchen basis. They serve Indian and Mughlai cuisines. All these brand are already live and running in Delhi. You can find them on Zomato Order app.
What are the returns in this restaurant business franchise?
The franchisee has to approach us, the franchiser, and pick one out of the five brand restaurants. The franchisee also has to choose a location for operating. Out of the total gross income which that particular restaurant makes in your location, you get 18% profit sharing. This serves as a passive income since the franchisee does not really have to make an effort to run the restaurant. Franchisee only has to make an investment, and in return, he gets a percentage of the profits transferred to his bank account monthly.
What is the break-even point?
Generally, when one opens a restaurant, it takes about 6-8 months for it to break even. Sometimes, the owner has to input money from his pocket to keep the place running as well. But in this case, there is no further input other than the initial one-time investment. So in about a year the franchisee can break-even his investment. After that, all income will be his profit.
What is the marketing support provided to the franchisee?
If after the initial few months of operation, the franchisee sees a dip in his business then he can sit with the franchisor and come up with a marketing plan. Since the whole restaurant franchise business works online, we kept a major focus on keeping the brand’s social media pages very eye-catching. The online creatives are fun and attractive for the youth. The brand’s social media presence matches its top competitors. Even the menus of all the restaurants are highly competitive. The food is affordable yet high on quality.
Our marketing channels are social media and some paid promotions on online food delivery apps. Once you decide to work on promotions, our key account manager of the area gets in touch with you the marketing options. According to the franchisee’s budget, he can decide which promotions to go ahead with. The extra investment in marketing is done additionally by the franchisee. In fact, it is recommended to make additional marketing investment as it helps in increasing sales. Therefore, it helps in increasing the profits sharing for the franchisee as well.
We have franchisee from Canada, running the restaurant business here. We have the option of investing in another city while the franchisee resides in a separate city too.
What is the ETA for launch?
Post the agreement is signed, it takes us 45-60 days for the restaurant to begin service. The franchisee receives his ID and password at that moment. Then he can start monitoring the service. So far we have 57 bookings for franchisees. As and when we get more franchisee requests, we start moving ahead with them. When we get a franchisee request, we let them know the locations we want to focus on. They can then decide form among those options. At the current juncture, we want to focus on the Delhi NCR region. We make recommendations to the franchisee on location depending on the footfall and openings. They can then decide their final location. This is done on a first come first serve basis.
What are the prerequisites for investors?
Generally, in the restaurant business, it is seen whether the investor has sufficient time and money for the next year. In our case though, we just want to join hands with people who are eager for doing something new and earning more money. There are no other prerequisites and no boxes to check.
Contact details for The Rolling Plate
You can get in touch with this restaurant franchise business by filling up the following form:
https://forms.gle/cqnx88zT7zm7G2Ry6
Watch the interview with Mr Jahaan of The Rolling Plate below.
Learn more about franchise business models.
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