Oh! Calcutta owner Speciality Restaurants will open at least one restaurant every two months till Dec 2024

“Everything has been planned for the 12-15 restaurants coming up in the next 24 months. All this was done pre-pandemic. You will see a surge in terms of topline but profitable growth,” he said.

“We have planned 12-15 restaurants which will be brick-and-mortar ones. Additional would be the cloud kitchens. All this combined, you will see around 24 of these combinations coming in mainly in Asian cuisine,” Chatterjee, also the chairman and managing director, said.

The CMD said the company still sees huge potential in cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru. He said for tier 2, the company would look at Chandigarh, Guwahati, and Indore, among other cities. The company also operates in Qatar, UAE, and the United Kingdom.

This expansion for the fine dining restaurant operator comes after a period of restructuring, during which Speciality Restaurants closed non-profitable restaurants. He said the company is going through a phase of rebirth.

Despite the closures, Chatterjee said the company saw strong growth in the third quarter, with robust growth in both the dining and delivery segments. In fact, he said delivery now accounted for 25-27 percent of the company's revenue, a figure that was boosted by the FIFA and T20 World Cups.

To fund this expansion, Speciality Restaurants announced plans to raise funds through the issuance of equity shares or other eligible convertible securities. On December 21, the company’s board approved fundraising of Rs 127.2 core through the issuance of 60 lakh warrants convertible at Rs 212.05 per share.

Warrants would be issued to investors who aren’t promoters. After the conversion, the promoter stake is expected to dilute from 52.53 percent to 46.5 percent. The company would initially receive Rs 31.8 crore, and the balance Rs 95.6 core would be received in April 2023. The board also approved an increase in the company's authorised capital from Rs 58 crore to Rs 67 crore. An extraordinary general meeting to discuss these plans will be held on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, in Kolkata.

The news of the fundraising plan boosted the company’s shares to a five-month high on December 19. While the stock has done well overall, on Friday it was trading 2.47 percent down at Rs 247.

While speaking about the company's plans on CNBC-TV18, Chatterjee emphasised the performance in the third quarter and the importance of the delivery business to the company's overall success. He used the term "revenge eating" to underline that the business is only set to grow from here.