More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2026

 

Please click here to read all liners published on this story

--Devyani Intl: Turnaround strategy of co has begun showing results 
--CONTEXT: Comments by Devyani Intl mgmt in post-earnings analyst concall 
--Devyani Intl: Saw some food commodity inflation, minimum wage hikes in Q1 
--Devyani Intl: Biryani by Kilo saw strong traction around festive occasions 
--Devyani Intl: Higher input costs hurt gross margins of Costa Coffee in Q1 
--Devyani Intl: Net added 3 new Biryani by Kilo stores in Q1 
--Devyani Intl: Targeting higher average daily sales to improve KFC margins 
--Devyani Intl: Making efforts to bring consumers back to dining stores 
--Devyani Intl: Working to improve Pizza Hut average daily sales 
--Devyani Intl: Planning to test satvik portfolio under Biryani by Kilo

 

By Astha Oriel and Shakshi Jain 

 

NEW DELHI – Devyani International Ltd. is planning to make Biryani By Kilo an INR-10-billion brand in the next few years, a senior company official said in post-earnings conference call with analysts Wednesday. 

 

"The brand contribution is positive from a negative case when we acquired the brand. We are also testing Biryani by Kilo in a dine-in format through our food courts...During this whole Navratri season, we are also planning to test the vegetarian portfolio, a satvik vegetarian portfolio for Biryani By Kilo," the official said. 

 

The management said that biryani as category is the largest ordered online food item across all platforms. "...if you look at the overall biryani market today and I am talking about the organised as well as unorganised market, this category is stated as anywhere between INR 30,000 crore (INR 300 billion) to INR 40,000 crore (INR 400 billion) number," the official said. 

 

According to the official, biryani as a category offers a huge space for consolidation, for standardised product offering, addressing the right consumer to the company. "....if you look at the big brands in the biryani space, the biggest brand would be about INR 300–INR 350 odd crores (INR 3.0 billion-INR 3.5 billion), and among the bigger brands, it is Biryani By Kilo and there will be one or two more competitors and therefore, it offers a huge space for consolidation, for standardised product offering, addressing the right consumer needs there and that is how we are so bullish on biryani," the management said. 

 

For the June quarter, the company net added 3 new stores under Biryani By Kilo brand. "The brand saw strong traction around the festival and celebration occasions in June quarter," the management said.

 

 

"We are confident that BBK's (Biryani By Kilo) expansion into offline channel will provide DI (Devyani International) with a durable long-term growth vector," the management said. 

 

For KFC brand, the company is targeting higher average daily sales to improve the brands margin. The company opened 11 net new KFC stores in India. "..the key driver for improving the brand contribution margin remains the ADS (average daily sales) number. I have also indicated in the past that once we cross a threshold of 105,000 ADS (average daily sales) to 110,000 ADS (average daily sales), we will be able to cross 20% brand contribution margins in KFC as we have demonstrated that in the past," the management said.

 

The key lever for average daily sales is a combination of same stores sales growth in the existing stores and the quality of new stores which the company is opening, according to the management. 

 

"So that's a combination that can give you the higher ADS (average daily sales) and therefore the better margins." The management is aiming for a same stores sales growth of 5-6% for KFC.

 

The company is also focusing for a strong push towards dine-in channel against its delivery channel, according to the official.  "...delivery as it stands today, it is actually eating into the dine-in sales. And that's the reason we are making concerted efforts to make sure that the consumers come back to dine-in," the official said. 

 

 

Expanding on this, the management said because consumers prioritise convenience, offering delivery becomes important. "Now at the same time, as brand owners, as operators, we have to give good reasons to consumers for them to come to the store.... let's say the consumer is getting the same offering, sitting at home, at times at a cheaper price, why would they want to come to the stores? And whereas you've invested and you're operating a complete infrastructure," the management pointed. "And, hence, we need to make sure that our offerings are available for dine-in customers in a different manner versus our delivery customers. So that our pricing proposition remains in sync. That a dine-in customer gets the best deal." 

 

For its Pizza Hut brand, the company is to improve average daily sales. For its Costa Coffee brand, higher input costs led to lower gross margins in the June quarter, as per the management. The management said that the turnaround strategy of the company has started to show results. "The key priorities for the remainder part of the year for the new team are number one, opening new stores," the management said. 

 

For the June quarter, the company saw the cost inflation on liquified petroleum gas and wage hike, as per the management. The quick-service restaurant chain operator's consolidated net profit rose over 297% on year to INR 146.47 million in the June quarter. It's consolidated revenue from operations rose over 16% on year to INR 15.81 billion. The company reported June quarter earnings during market hours. Shares of the company closed 4.1% higher at INR 118.36 on the National Stock Exchange. End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.