Chokhi Dhani to come up in nine locations

Plans for Dubai expansion in the pipeline

Chokhi Dhani Resorts Pvt Ltd, the Jaipur based hospitality company, plans to expand its resort and restaurant portfolio. The group which operates five-star resorts with ethnic Rajasthani ambience will come up with properties in Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Agra and Kolkata. The properties are expected to be ready by end 2009. The property in Udaipur will be a 100 room resort, while the one in Jaisalmer will accommodate about 45 rooms. The company is yet to finalise land for the Kolkata project, whereas the project in Agra is still in the designing stage.

The company also intends to expand its restaurant format, which is managed under the same brand name. The group will develop the restaurants in Surat, Ahmedabad, Panchkula, Ludhiana, Raipur, Nagpur and Mumbai. It plans to have nine outlets operational under its brand name by mid 2009. In order to cash in on the rapid development of malls in India, the company aims to develop a format which can be accommodated in the limited mall expanse.

Speaking about the development, Subhash Vaswani, Managing Director, Chokhi Dhani Resorts Pvt Ltd stated, “The format of most of our restaurants usually requires huge amount of real estate in order to create an ethnic ambience. Therefore, we felt the need to create a smaller business model for the mall presence”. The first outlet in the same format will come up in Panipat by mid 2009. Post the launch of the restaurant in Panipat, the company aims to make an international foray by coming up with an outlet in Dubai.

The company has been in the hospitality industry for the last 19 years. However, it has begun to consider expansions only recently. Commenting on the same, Vaswani said, “Initially, we started in the industry on a low note. However, the encouragement we have received from the market has provided us the necessary boost for expansion. We aim to introduce the product to newer markets”. The company is considering an investment of about Rs 50 Crore (excluding the land cost) for each resort format and about Rs five Crore for each restaurant expansion. The funds for the expansions will be acquired through internal accruals and private equity, for which it is in discussion with several private equity players.