Fast food restaurant chains — McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Dominos, Dunkin Donuts, etc. — have been ruling the quick service restaurant (QSR) segment in India. However, none of these companies is India-headquartered.
While international giants have made a mark for themselves, their Indian counterparts — including Bengaluru-based — is ambitious and aspire to scale as big as these companies.
Founded by Biraja Prasad Rout in 2011 as a weekend hobby, Biggies was started with a small kiosk in Bengaluru’s Electronic City, near the Infosys office.
Biraja says the trend of fast-food chains enwrapped him while working at HCL Limited. Additionally, the lack of local brands compelled him to push for this opportunity further.
Today, Biggies Burger has a presence across 71 outlets (47 functioning and 24 under-progress) in 25 cities, except in North India. The founder highlights that Biggies Burger functions as a franchisee model, sans one company-owned outlet in Bengaluru.
Getting started
Biggies received 32 customers on the first day of Biraja setting up the five by five square feet kiosk. Soon, he saw repeat customers regularly coming back to the shop.
“I wasn’t making a lot of money, but the proof of concept was there,” he tells SMBStory.
According to Biraja, Biggies’ USP lies in its wholly-bakes burgers. He adds, “Because it is wholly-baked, our burger has 35 percent fewer calories compared to a traditional burger.”
Biggies menu boasts of a variety of burgers, including Peri Peri Paneer Burger, Jumbo Bigg Krunch Burger, Lebanese Chicken Burger, Mushroom Burger, and more.
Until 2015, Biraja continued to pursue Biggies as a weekend project, alongside his full-time job at HCL. He soon realised he needed to go all-in to scale the brand. In 2016, he quit his job and decided to pursue the brand full-time.
Decoding the franchisee model
Nearly five years after starting the business, Biraja turned to the franchisee model to scale up and compete with the global brands dominating the market.
Thus, from Bengaluru, he could expand the brand to 25 cities, including Bhubaneswar, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and more.
At present, the company operates two franchise models.
The first model consists of an area of over 250 square feet for cafe experience, which can cost from Rs 18 lakh onwards. The second standalone model starts from Rs 28 lakh and consists of a minimum of 750 square feet like a food court or airport.
According to Biraja, about 96 percent of Biggies’ ingredients are prepared in-house and supplied by the master kitchen in Bengaluru.
In fact, the brand banked on word of mouth and people taking on its franchises repeatedly for organic marketing. He says the brand strategy has always been to have a light viable capex model.
“I was very clear that I wanted to create a global brand, and for that, the scalability has to be very fast. Thus, operating our store was never an option,” Biraja adds.
According to the founder, onboarding the right people to take on the franchises is paramount. He explains, “Before onboarding a partner, we assess various parameters like can they operate multiple outlets? How much time are they giving to the business? What are the possible mistakes that can be committed? and more.”
In 2016, Biraja onboarded two franchisee owners — Abhilash Bellur and Sandeep Satpathy — as Biggies’ co-founders.
The company’s strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) ensure the product lines are not disrupted, maintaining quality across all of its outlets. “We supply everything. The franchise partner only has to assemble, reheat, and serve the final product to the customer,” he adds.
Biggies Burger charges a 3 percent royalty from its franchisees, along with a franchising fee between Rs 5-6 lakh.
The way ahead
According to Research and Markets, the Indian QSR sector is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18 percent between 2021 and 2025, owing to increasing urbanisation, rapid expansion in food delivery services, expanding young working population, rising disposable income, and more.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic hurting several businesses, Biraja is gung-ho about scaling the QSR brand further. He claims the company has recovered back to its pre-pandemic sales.
At present, Biggies Burger operates both online and physical stores. Biggies partnered with Zomato amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to do online sales. The brand clocks about 45 percent of its revenue from its digital sales.
While its online model has existed from day one, the brand was focusing more on its offline presence. But, the pandemic allowed the company to grow this business vertical, clocking almost Rs 1 crore by the end of FY21.
Biraja is not keen on expanding to other categories. He says the burgers are “the heart of the company,” adding, “About 80 percent of our revenue come from burgers only.” It also serves shakes and sides to its customers.
Bootstrapped with Rs 1.72 lakh, where Rs 1 lakh was a personal loan, the company has not raised any funding. However, Biraja points out that it is open to raising funds if the need arises.
This year, Biggies has big plans to expand domestically and internationally. Besides foraying into Singapore, the brand plans to open 306 outlets by 2024, with the current run-rate of five franchises a month.
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