Secret Recipe Cafe Chains Rolls Into India

By P. Vijian KATHMANDU, Nov 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's home-baked café (rpt café) chain which has moulded itself into a major global brand name, Secret Recipe, is set to open its maiden outlet in Bangalore, India's prosperous IT capital, early next year. The restaurant chain that prides itself for tasty cakes in fancy urban set-ups chose India as its first South Asian market, where demand for such modern cafes were increasingly popular among middle-class consumers. "The first opening in South India will be in Bangalore, that will be our hub and later we will expand to Hyderabad and Chennai. "We have done our market research and India is a fantastic market," said Secret Recipe Managing Director Steven Sim Leong Thun in an interview with Bernama Wednesday. After a modest started in 1997, the lifestyle café chain quickly earned reputation for its quality cakes and was now rolling out its ambitious global expansion strategy which included Cambodia and even Nepal, besides India. The franchise owner would sign a deal with an Indian company, the master franchise for South India, later in December. But no further details of the company were revealed. Sim said Secret Recipe was matured enough to go global and compete with international brands such as Starbucks or Coffee Bean. He even down played stiff rivalry in the already crowded India's café segment, largely driven by well-established foreign beverage conglomerates and growing at nearly 25 per cent annually. "If we can do it in Melbourne, we can do it anywhere. "We are not inferior to global competition, India is going to be an exciting venture," said a confident Sim. Priding its brand name in seven countries, with over 250 outlets in the region, its cafés offer a gamut of pastries and fusion food, but its chefs would tweak its menu to suit Indian taste buds. "There will be 15 to 20 per cent change in our menu for the Indian market, we will take off unsuitable foods like beef and noodle-based and introduce vegetarian dishes," added Sim. Sim rolled out his Indian plan during the Malaysia-Nepal Business Council trade mission to the Himalayan capital that concluded on Monday. The company also plans to sign a pact with a Cambodian master franchise in December. -- BERNAMA