Brands
VingaJoy ropes in Jacqueline Fernandez as brand ambassador
Mumbai: Homegrown consumer electronics manufacturer VingaJoy has announced Bollywood star Jacqueline Fernandez as its brand ambassador. The collaboration is aimed at creating increased brand awareness with respect to the young consumer base.
With the tagline ‘Be Loud, Be Proud,’ the brand is focused on being the first choice of millennials and offers products such as earphones, headphones, speakers, travel chargers, and premium rugged cables that seamlessly integrate into the youth’s style statement. In line with the spirit of the brand, Jacqueline was a unanimous choice as she represents the energy of the youth, the brand said in a statement.
“Jacqueline Fernandez is the perfect face for our brand. She is dynamic, young, and stylish, and a person who has left her own mark in the industry, making her the perfect expression of VingaJoy,” said VingaJoy’s co-founder Lalit Arora. “We are delighted to invite Jacqueline Fernandez to join our crew and take our brand’s style quotient to a whole new level. We welcome her to the VingaJoy family and are confident she will inspire our consumers to feel proud to be associated with a brand like ours.”
“I am extremely thrilled to be the face of VingaJoy and participate in the brand’s incredible journey of success and innovation,” said Jacqueline. “Known as the millennial audio brand, VingaJoy offers seamless tech quality and modern design in all its products. The company’s innovative approach to offer consumer-focused solutions is what attracted me to it. I am hopeful that this association will ensure higher brand recall, and eventually create a larger customer base for VingaJoy.”
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.
