Brands
Barbeque Nation to firm up mass media communication plans for fiscal 2015
BENGALURU: Indian casual dining restaurant chain Barbeque Nation (BN) opened its 39 restaurant in Ahmedabad on 22 October. The chain has six restaurants in Bengaluru. A typical opening is preceded and followed for a while by radio jingles, outdoor billboards within the catchment areas of the new restaurant and print ads in mainline media in that city.
So far, industry sources say that, the chain had no firm media plans or strategy for brand building. All that is going to change says BN India head of marketing Vikram Varma. The company plans to come up with marketing and brand building plans for fiscal 2015. While Varma could not disclose the ad and sales promotion budgets that BN will set aside since this is still in progress, industry estimates peg spends of restaurant chains at between 5- 8 per cent of revenue.
“On an average, we serve about 400 customers per day per restaurant,” revealed Varma to www.indiantelevision.com at the ‘Pat Chapman Grills the World’ festive season experience at BN’s flagship Indiranagar, Bengaluru restaurant. “The average area of our restaurants is about 4000 square feet, and we spend anything upwards of Rs 2 crore for setting up a restaurant,” said Varma.
“We find radio to be quite an effective medium, especially during a new launch or for an event such as the one by Pat Chatman. We use mainline print, because we find it a lot more effective, and at present haven’t allocated funds for culinary publications. We are also on social media, contact customers through SMS and direct emails. Generally we’ve found that a campaign in a city adds about 30 per cent new customers, while about 70 per cent are repeat customers,” informed Varma.
BN closed last year with revenues of about Rs 270 crore, and is expected to close this fiscal at about Rs 300 crore – based on industry estimates, this pegs its ad spends at between Rs 15 crore to Rs 25 crore for FY-2016, figures that would tempt any agency to pitch for the account. Fisheye handles the creative duties for BN. The company does its own media buying.
At the Pat Chapman Grills the World festival, Chef Chapman presents his marinades range from the British Yorkshire and Jamaican Jerk Marinades to the Spanish Valencia and Albuquerque Atomic Marinades. BN has taken Chapman’s festival to its various restaurants in NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Brands
Jubilant FoodWorks faces Rs 47.5 crore GST demand, plans appeal
Tax authorities flag alleged misclassification of restaurant services
MUMBAI: Jubilant FoodWorks Limited has landed in a tax tussle after receiving a GST demand of Rs 47.5 crore from the office of the additional commissioner of CGST and central excise in Thane, Maharashtra.
The order, issued under the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, relates to an alleged incorrect classification of certain services under the category of restaurant services. According to the tax authorities, this classification resulted in a short payment of goods and services tax for the period between the financial years 2019-20 and 2021-22.
The demand includes Rs 47.5 crore in GST along with an equal amount as penalty, in addition to applicable interest. The order was received by the company on March 13, 2026.
In a regulatory filing to the BSE Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited, the company said it disagrees with the order and believes its arguments were not adequately considered.
The company is preparing to challenge the decision and plans to file an appeal. It added that once the redressal process is complete, the demand is likely to be dropped.
Despite the sizeable figure attached to the notice, the company said it does not expect any material impact on its financials, operations or other activities.
The disclosure was signed by Suman Hegde, EVP and chief financial officer, who confirmed that the company received the order at 19:06 IST on March 13 and has already initiated steps to contest it.
The development places the quick service restaurant major in the middle of a tax debate that could hinge on how certain restaurant-linked services are classified under GST rules. For now, the company appears ready to take the matter from the tax office to the appeals desk.
