While many in the restaurant industry are moving towards shorter spaces, Chrome Hospitality has ensured to expand in the bigger formats which drive true consumer experience while dining out. Yuvi Hospitality has also huge expansion plans in place for 2022-23. Its marquee brand, Molecule is opening in eight new cities like Indore, Jhansi, Noida, North Delhi, Kanpur, Meerut, Goa, and Faridabad. Large format restaurants continue to see a rise in numbers even when the industry is going all gaga about the cloud kitchen situation.

The share-ability phenomenon isn’t going anywhere, as diners continue to seek out “for the table” offerings that allow everyone to have a taste or two in amiable companionability. But the dishes offered in these large formats have moved far beyond those perennial favorites of pizza or french fries and have considerably upped both their culinary game and their irresistible cachet for diners.

These days, large-format dining usually involves one or more large dishes designed specifically to be enjoyed as a group, not just doubled-up orderings of several entrees. With their one-of-a-kind distinction and celebratory feel already built in, these dishes tend to allow for stronger pricing models and more robust revenue generation.

The co-founder of Chrome Hospitality, Pawan Shahri shared that before beginning any business there is always a risk calculation done which involves the skill-set of the operators, feasibility, and financial projections. With this calculation being made, the size of the business does not matter as you have enough knowledge to kickstart your business.

However, even when Shahri has dipped his hands in heavy investments, he feels that the cloud kitchen formats can also be more innovative and supportive of the existing spaces to maximize revenue. “We started three incubator programs (ensuring to maximize utilization of space and incremental revenues from unused kitchen space) with brands ranging from fusion South Indian, Parsi baos, and Vegan food. We are about to start our fourth incubator brand “Eat Play Love Food” which will be live by June 2022,” he informed.

And for his big giants, this year, Chrome will be focussing on acquiring another 60,000 sq ft of F&B space by December 2022 which will total up to the operating space of around one lakh sq ft. Except for Mumbai, the brand is focussing on areas like Bangalore, Goa, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Kolhapur as cities to expand in. “We will also be launching an experiential bigger format outlet in Dubai,” Shahri added. 

Shahri shared that across outlets, the company will be successful in maintaining a run rate of INR 60 crores from current outlets and adding an additional INR 18 crores from new outlets by end of 2022 taking it close to INR 80 crores

“The pandemic has definitely changed F&B business dynamics a lot but I believe the culture of dining out can never be replaced by eating at home or the delivery model. Dining out is an Experience that comes with Good food, drinks, vibes, and entertainment, When you pay at the restaurant, It is not only for the food and drinks but it is for the whole experience which is not possible with food delivered at homes. So the experience of dining out and dining at home just can not be matched,” Sahil Sambhi, Co-Founder and Director of Yuvi Hospitality commented.

After the emergence of the pandemic, the industry is witnessing a major shift in consumer trends and habits. There is a shift from nightlife to daytime outings, focus on healthier choices, wishes to visit well-designed spaces, preference for boutique brands over larger chains, etc. The consumer today is more aware, wishful, and conscious than ever before. Consumers are preferring to spend money at places where they can get an experience. One can clearly gauge from the expansion strategy that most of the famed restaurateurs are anchoring into, like Priyank Sukhija. Almost all the upcoming projects of First Fiddle Restaurants are into large-size experiential formats, tapping the high street markets of the metro cities.

“Cloud kitchens are also known as dark kitchens because of their pros and cons. Cloud kitchen deals with serious pricing, Cloud kitchens can keep the land costs low. This is on the grounds that since clients never visit these kitchens, they needn't bother with being at ideal spots. This permits the cafés to reduce expenses. They can give great quality food to the clients for a small portion of the expenses. Yet, some have declared enormous scope developments with bigger arrangements. They are thinking a long way ahead,” Jayant Gandhi, Founder, and CEO of Mellow Garden said.

Cleanliness and expenses are the two major issues that the cloud kitchen model is challenging to scale. The issue is that on multiple occasions organizations assemble their kitchens in unhygienic circumstances. This is done to bring down the expenses as much as could be expected. According to Gandhi, clients would truly prefer not to be served from the stand-out property. In any case, any picked kitchen should be clean so the food is palatable. Cloud kitchens are a generally new creation. All things considered, they are extending existing business sectors in this manner helping the business in general but for better coming days restaurateurs are looking for expansion options as well.

Location is the most important factor that differentiates the cloud kitchen concept from the high-end large-format dine-in concept. While Pushpendra Dwivedi, Founder, and CEO of Pllatos feel that a cloud kitchen is an eatery that centers only around important points. He raised the concern of corporate deliveries and food offerings which can be a major chunk of business. “These restaurants don't offer food in offices. These outlets ought to be seen as food processing plants and the ideal returning lift to the eatery business. It gives various offices and guarantees clean food to supporters,” he shared. 

A portion of the advantages of cloud kitchen had made it in pattern, for example, low functional expense, the cloud kitchen model permits the café to sidestep costly land expenses and spotlight more on the food. There are a few difficulties that are serious now in cloud kitchen design thus others are attempting to assemble secure roots.

“Cloud kitchens have cosmic specialized costs. This is on the grounds that these kitchens need to speak with a ton of food conveyance applications. The orders must be gotten and conveyed to the kitchen which is the closest to the client's area. There are cloud-based arrangements accessible that permit restaurants to go innovative with no major forthright expenses. Be that as it may, the month-to-month endorser charge additionally consumes the wallets of numerous startup kitchens. Thus, the costs turn out to be basically the same as customary eateries,” Dwivedi feels. 

Although, restaurateurs are more careful now while picking spaces for their new ventures keeping in mind the rentals and size of the property. Dining out or partying at your favorite bar will never go out of style. And for restaurateurs who want to bet high on revenue, large format restaurants will always be on their cards.