Thailand-based fast food chain operator Global Franchise Architects plans to accelerate expansion in India to make up for the slowdown in the domestic market.

GFA owns the fast food and cafe brands Coffee World, Pizza Corner, Cream & Fudge and Donut Baker.

More store openings are planned for India which would see the company operating 130-140 stores by December from existing 98 since 1996.

“Thailand, with 110 stores, is right now our biggest market. By April, India will overtake Thailand in terms of the number of stores,” said CEO Joseph Cherian.

Pizza World will spearhead the Indian push, along with the Cream & Fudge ice cream concept and Donut Baker.

“Coffee is a bit crowded in India right now. We will also not be bringing in any new brands,” said Cherian.

While expansion is focused on the southern part, the company says it is in talks with potential franchise partners to enter northern and western parts of the country.

Its confidence in the market is underpinned by the overall development of the organised retail sector.

“There has been a lot of development on the back-end and supply chain in India over the past few years. Logistics, the highways and infrastructure have improved, cold storage chains have come up, even the kind of talent available,” he said.

Cherian said the company has terminated the plan to raise capital through private equity and decided to invest itself instead.

“It’s because of a combination of valuation and other things. Valuation is a challenge when you have different brands in different growth stages. We decided we should grow our brands to the next level and then maybe look again at raising capital from external sources,” said the executive.

Owned by Swiss entrepreneur Fred Mouawad, Global Franchise Architects operates 250 stores in nine Asian markets.

GB