Impresario Handmade Restaurants, owner of SOCIAL, contemplates future IPO

Impresario Handmade Restaurants was one of the businesses affected by COVID but Founder and Managing Director Riyaaz Amlani says it was the support of his staff that helped the institution stay afloat then. Today, as he looks to expand to newer cities, he believes COVID has a role to play in this.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Amlani said, “One of the benefits of COVID is that there was some reverse migration that has happened. People have taken back the same aspiration levels and the same attitude towards dining out as they had when they resided in metros, which was not the case earlier.”

Culturally, there was a taboo when it came to dining out in non-metros, but that is changing, added Amlani. He stated, “People living in non-metros today have a high disposable income because the cost of living is lower compared to metros. And a lot of that income is directed towards food services. So it's a really good time to be in those non-metro cities now.”

Impresario Handmade Restaurants is a chain of over 60 restaurants operating in more than 20 cities. It is keen on growing its brand ‘SOCIAL', he revealed. It also owns brands like antiSOCIAL and Smoke House Deli, among others.

In FY24, the chain will be closing just below ₹700 crore, and from there, the company expects to grow at a pace of 20–25% year-on-year, Amlani added. While the company is well-funded to support its expansion plan, it does have plans to go public, and as and when the market moves along, it may look at different funding options.

He is well aware that competition has increased in the casual dining space and chances are that it will pose a challenge. But he believes his two decades of experience will help him overcome the hurdles. “So the mortality rate in the restaurant space is very high—about 90% of restaurants shut down in the first five years of operations. We've been in this business now for about 22 years and are aware of the pitfalls to watch out for. While competition will make us more determined to do better, I think as a customer, that's going to be a win-win situation.”

Impresario Handmade Restaurants is also preparing to meet the rising demand in the premiumisation segment.

Further, he added, “India has already entered its golden decade. In India, there is a lot of headroom for growth. But there can be a little challenge when it comes to contraction in disposable income, especially when a lot of people in the middle of the pyramid are tightening their belt when it comes to disposable income.”

He believes the casual dining segment and premium dining segment are poised to be among the fastest-growing segments, at about 18%. Despite being a fragmented market, he believes this growth momentum will continue.