Franchising is a tremendous platform to build a company's brand reach by overcoming territorial barriers it may be a stepping stone toward establishing a prosperous business empire. When properly introduced, franchising allows a customer to join the brand of their choice as they perceive a lucrative return on investment. CEO Insights interviewed Ankur Maskara (Retail Head) of Winni Cakes & More, wherein he enlightened about their multiple services and expanding chain of franchises.

Tell us about the salient features of your Retail franchise
Our Franchisees have up to70 percent margins since we selfproduce the majority of our key products in the live kitchen. We offer comprehensive training to the franchise's front and back-office employees, as well as a five year replacement guarantee for all of the company's kitchen staff. The franchise has access to our exclusive portal for ordering all the packing, raw materials and other finished goods. They get our proprietary recipe and food cost management to maximize quality and margins. We handhold our Franchise to run the business successfully. Digital marketing is our forte and it helps in establishing the franchises business. Our Mission and vision is to make cakes available at affordable price with good quality to every segment and be their neighborhood bakery.

While providing a Retail franchise,do you help your clients with its setup operations like market survey, local demand, deciding the location, staff recruitment and others?
Yes, our sales team will assist the franchisee in locating a convenient place, since this is the most crucial element of retail success and we have a dedicated mechanism in place to finalize the outlet's location and configuration. The investment ranges from six to 18 lacs depending on the model (QSR, café, master kitchen). However, the budget is made available, along with all of the expenditure information with complete transparency.

Do you have any unique standardized norms set for franchise offerings like a specifically designed menu, instructions on the ingredients/spice’s usage & procurement, uniquely curated recipes and others?
We have our R&D team, led by our executive chef, who develops the entire menu with set recipes and methods, and the raw materials we use are the best in the industry and consistent across the board. Since we have a

broad geographical range, menu prices vary depending on region, from Baramulla in Kashmir to Chennai in the south, and from Itanagar in the east to Diu in the west. Every quarter, we add at least four-five new items to the menu, which includes not only cakes but items like pizza, burger, sandwich, waffle etc. All stores receive digital copies of the recipe, videos, trading, and other materials.

Tell us about your strategies to ensure the comfort, hygiene & safety of customers at your Retail franchises? Also, for your restaurant franchise how often do you perform quality checks for your offerings?
The interior is consistent in all locations and is built to provide a convenient, air-conditioned, and hygienic atmosphere for customers. Our kitchen, too, is air conditioned to provide comfort to our chefs while maintaining food hygiene. To ensure safety and hygiene, all franchise stores provide fire safety, pest control, CCTV, and housekeeping services. Our account management team conducts a monthly audit of all of our locations to inspect supplies, cooks, and store hygiene, among other things.

Our franchisee performance rate is 96 percent, which is twice as high as the industry average

What are the challenges & opportunities that you foresee in the current market for a restaurant franchise?
Following the lockdown, the bakery industry has seen a significant increase as its now become a necessity and the younger generation has shifted their demand from traditional sweet shops to bakery products. Our franchise inquiries have increased by over 300 percent and we are now signing at least 75 stores every quarter. The difficulty is in finding a successful franchise partner who is willing to work as hard as we do to make the bakery a success bakery is a neighborhood shop that necessitates a lot of customer contact and management, which is very natural when the bakery is run by the owner or a family member. The real money is in tier 2 and tier 3 towns, where we have had a lot of success. Many aspiring clients value a brand like ours that provides great service at a fair price in a location where it was previously unavailable.

Are we going to see any kind of innovation/addition to your existing franchise portfolio soon?
Many natural enhancements to our bakery franchisee models will occur these will be options available as an add on to the bakery model we currently have, such as an ice cream parlor, flower shop, or personalized gift shop. The fact that we have live kitchens makes it very easy for us to launch new creative items across all outlets, and our inhouse chef team introduces new products every month to keep our franchisees up to date, puts us in a different league. We will also be launching a premium bakery café format for the up market clients with more exclusive and premium products.

Tell us about the future roadmap set for your company? Where do you want to take your company from here?
We have a strong plan to have 2000 outlets by 2025, and we are the only bakery in India with a pan India geographical footprint and a presence in every state. Our franchisee performance rate is 96 percent, which is twice as high as the industry average, and we will be India's largest bakery franchise with a pan India presence, as opposed to the cur-rent bakery trend of only being present in one city or state.