Theobroma, the premium bakery and patisserie brand, has set up its 100th outlet this week and has spanned pre-Covid numbers and its offline footfalls have reverted back to pre-pandemic levels.
The ICICI Venture-backed chain, which has offline stores across five cities, delivery-only “cloud” outlets and its own online brand store, is expanding its offline footprint rapidly, said Rishi Gour, chief executive at Theobroma.
The company reported revenue of Rs 250 crore in the financial year 2021-22, and is on track to reach Rs 375 crore in FY 23. “We plan to expand to Rs 600 crore by FY 25, with 175-200 outlets,” he said.
He credited growth to a mix of expansion in existing and new cities; delivery-only ‘cloud’ outlets; expansion of online delivery sales both through aggregators and its own brand store; and tie-ups with e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and SuprDaily to retail select categories such as breads, cookies, crackers, and tea cakes.
Dine-in businesses weakened severely during the pandemic amid restricted use of capacity and limited operating hours. But the sector has seen a sharp revival, with several companies reporting dining out, travel, and on-premise consumption back to pre-pandemic levels.
According to estimates by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the annual food services sector is worth about Rs. 4.2 lakh crore and could grow to Rs. 7.7 lakh crore by 2025.