Paradise to serve up famed Hyderabad biryani on global platter

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based biryani and kebab chain Paradise Food Courts, in which private equity player Samara Capital is reported to have acquired majority stake by investing $75 million (approx. Rs 562 crore) in the latest round, is eyeing an international debut in about 24 months.
On its radar are markets in North America, Europe, Middle East and SouthEast Asia that have a strong Indian diaspora, which it plans to foray into most likely through the franchisee route, Paradise Food Court Pvt Ltd CEO Gautam Gupta said on Wednesday.

Gupta also said the biryani chain is also looking at 10X growth in the Indian market armed with the latest funding. It plans to grow to 500 restaurants across 100 tier-1 and 2 cities across the country by 2026-27 from the existing 50 outlets across 13 cities in six states through the `company owned, company operated’ (COCO) route and expects to cross the 100 outlets mark by end of 2022.
The seven-decade old Paradise, which is currently hovering at revenues of around Rs 250 crore, is also looking at emerging as a Rs 2,000 crore turnover player over the next five years, he said.
Gupta pointed out that of the estimated food services market of $50billion annually in India, the biryani market alone is about $5 billion of which only about 10% is organised market, of which Paradise has less than 1% share, leaving huge headroom for growth.
Paradise started out as a small canteen and cafe out of Paradise cinema theatre in Secunderabad that was set up by Hussain Hemati and Ghulam Hussain and expanded its presence after Ali Hemati took over the restaurant in 1978.
The latest investment by Samara Capital comes after it invested around Rs 70 crore in 2014 and is learnt to have invested Rs 200 crore before the latest tranche of investment.