The Belgian Waffle Co. launches its 360th outlet

1. First of all congratulations on launching the 360th outlet! What challenges do you face while expanding your business? 

As the age-old saying in retail business goes – it’s about location. The biggest challenge is to find a convergence of location with an organic catchment area, rent-to-revenue measure and a partner (in case of franchise stores) to grow with us.  

2. Covid-19 in the F&B and hospitality industry has left a huge impact on the industry, How did the group tackle the same? 

Our inherently built agility to respond to any adverse situation helped us tide over the direct & indirect impacts of the pandemic. We were able to get back to business as usual with CoVID-19 appropriate service standards added immediately when Unlock started in 2020. On the business front – we pivoted our business to online platforms, ensured no-contact delivery and introduced multi-product combos on account of larger order sizes witnessed. 

3. How do you plan to innovate the menu of The Belgian Waffle Co.? 

We want to offer “everything waffles” and beyond & efforts are concentrated in that direction. E.g. Ice-cream Sundaes were added to the menu on Aug 22 as a way to enhance a consumers’ waffling experience. We will continue to innovate and delight consumers with adjacent category extensions. 

4. You also have a kiosk in INOX cinema sectors, do you further plan to expand in this sector?

Whilst the cinema sector does pose a good combination of captive consumer base and an appropriate sweet snacking occasion, we are limited by the real estate available in the sector. It will continue to be a part of the offline mix but may not be a growth driver. 

5. What according to you are the challenges faced while bringing an FMCG product into the market? 

FMCG posed a great challenge when we entered with The Belgian Waffle Co. premixes – allowing you to enjoy our waffles and pancakes with 100% vegetarian proprietary batter recipe at home. A part of the challenge was distribution where our 360+ store presence has aided greatly. Another challenge was to ensure product integrity across multiple nodes of distribution. Needless to say we have overcome both challenges & are looking at FMCG as a future growth driver for the business. 

6. We wish you all the very best for your goal to touch a 1000 outlet milestone! What more do you wish to achieve in the next 2-5 years? 

There are multiple pillars of growth being worked upon to ensure we stay future-ready. Some of these include calibrated international expansion, D2C platform and innovation-led menu offerings.

7. What is the advice that you would like to give the young F&B entrepreneurs out there? 

To put it succinctly – Keep it simple! Oftentimes we are tempted by the promise of exponential growth by continuously adding to menu offerings. However, the key is to keep it simple operationally and building a foundation on which growth can be pegged.