Brands
Hard Rock International cuts ties with JSM Corporation, ending a decade of cafe operations across India
Ten locations from Bengaluru to Kolkata go dark after the American brand formally terminates its operator agreements — only the Goa hotel survives
FLORIDA: One of the most recognisable names in global hospitality has just gone dark across India. Hard Rock International has formally terminated its agreements with JSM Corporation Private Limited and related entities, stripping them of the right to operate all Hard Rock Cafes and Rock Shops in the country. Every last one of them.
The termination sweeps across ten locations: Hard Rock Cafe Bengaluru, Bengaluru International Airport, Bengaluru Whitefield, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Hyderabad Hitech City, Kolkata, New Delhi and Pune. That is the entire footprint of the brand’s cafe and retail operation in India, gone in one fell swoop.
JSM Corporation, the Mumbai-based hospitality group that brought the Hard Rock Cafe brand to India and built it into a ten-city operation over the years, has lost the lot. Hard Rock International has not disclosed the reasons for the termination, nor has JSM made any public statement.
One outpost escapes the carnage. The Hard Rock Hotel in Goa, which operates under a separate arrangement and is not connected to JSM, will remain open and continues to trade as normal.
For the thousands of regulars who have spent evenings amid the guitars and memorabilia at any of the ten shuttered venues, the brand’s exit from the cafe and retail segment marks an abrupt and unceremonious end. Hard Rock came to India with considerable fanfare. It is leaving considerably more quietly.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
