Brands
Anmol Industries ropes in Abhishek Kumar as VP Marketing
MUMBAI: Packaged food major Anmol Industries has appointed Abhishek Kumar as its new vice president, marketing, handing him the brief to lead brand building and marketing strategy across product categories.
With over 18 years of experience in FMCG marketing and sales, Kumar brings a well-seasoned blend of brand management, market expansion and go to market planning. His career spans stints at companies such as Cargill Foods, 3M India, Godfrey Phillips India, Lotus Chocolate Company and Patanjali Foods, where he worked across diverse product portfolios and consumer segments.
At Anmol, Kumar will collaborate closely with cross functional teams to strengthen the company’s brand presence and align marketing efforts with its expansion ambitions and shifting consumer preferences.
Welcoming the appointment, Anmol Industries managing director Gobind Ram Choudhary, said the company was pleased to have Kumar on board. He noted that Kumar’s understanding of consumer behaviour and FMCG marketing would add momentum as Anmol continues to scale its brands and widen its market reach.
Sharing his thoughts on the move, Kumar said he was joining Anmol at a pivotal phase of its growth journey. He described Anmol as a brand built on trust, value and consistency, and said he looked forward to enhancing its relevance across markets while supporting the company’s growth plans.
With a familiar name at the helm of marketing, Anmol appears set to give its brands a sharper voice in an increasingly crowded food aisle.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
