Taco Bell names Burman Hospitality as exclusive national franchise partner

New Delhi: Yum Brands Inc-owned Mexican cuisine chain Taco Bell named Burman Hospitality as its exclusive national franchise partner on Wednesday, a deal that makes Burman Hospitality one of the largest Taco Bell franchisees globally by store count. So far, Taco Bell’s 35 stores in India were operated as a mix between Burman Hospitality and its own equity stores.

“We expect India to be operating over 600 outlets by 2029, making this market the largest outside of the US,” Taco Bell Corp international president Liz Williams, currently on an India visit, told ET.

Taco Bell is Yum India’s newest and smallest brand. Yum-promoted Pizza Hut and KFC operate a combined 800-plus outlets in the country. The Southern California headquartered Taco Bell debuted in the Indian market in 2010, and tied up with Burman Hospitality in 2015.

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Burman Hospitality director Gaurav Burman said investments on stores would be in the range of Rs 3 crore each. “As part of the master franchise agreement, Burman Hospitality will create employment for over 20,000 people including entry level team members, restaurant management, and store positions. We will create additional jobs in multiple outsourced functions across partner companies in functions like IT, finance, supply chain and maintenance,” he said.

Taco Bell Asia-Pacific managing director Ankush Tuli said India is a “massive opportunity market” for the brand. “While the core cuisine remains global, the menu has been localised for Indian consumers,” Tuli said.

The Indian restaurant industry employed 7.3 million people in 2018-19, and the organised food services sector contributed Rs 18,000 crore in taxes in 2018-19, National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) said in its Food Services Report released last week. The report estimates the Indian food services market at Rs 4,23,865 crore in 2018-19, forecasted to grow 9% to reach Rs 5,99,782 crore by 2022-23.