Keventers plans experiential stores in tier II, III cities, focus on delivery in metros

Keventers currently operates 150 outlets.

Ice cream and milkshake brand Keventers, which used to operate out of quick-service restaurants (QSR), is tweaking its model to focus on cloud kitchens in metropolitan areas, while opening large-format outlets in tier II and III cities.

The rejig in strategy is a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted the way restaurants and QSRs operate.

“The pandemic has led to a lot of evolutionary changes, especially, in the way we do business,” said Agastya Dalmia, Co-Founder and Director, Keventers.

Keventers QSRs currently are about 100-150 square feet in size, but it plans to launch a few stores in tier II and III cities in larger format sized at about 600-800 sq ft.

“We feel in metro cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, consumers are spoilt for choice with options such as malls but in smaller towns there are not many options to sit and relax,” said Dalmia. “Hence, we plan to open larger stores with extensive menus in these towns.”

Initially, it plans to experiment with a store in each location and then gradually expand. Its menu in these stores would include more dessert and savoury food items.

Keventers has launched a direct-to-consumer platform in tie-up with e-commerce and payments platform DotPe and has also opened cloud kitchens in partnership with cloud kitchen operators such as ZFW Hospitality. For its ice cream brand Ice Creamery, the focus is largely going to be virtual, and the player has introduced the brand out of 70-80 virtual locations in the last three months.

“We plan to double this in the next six months,” said Aman Arora, Co-Founder and Director, Keventers.

The company, which has closed several stores due to rentals in the last few months, plans to focus on deliveries through the cloud kitchen model in the metropolitan locations. It currently operates 150 outlets. The company currently services around 5,000-6,000 orders per day through food aggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato.

“We are looking at a strategy which balances between various channels going ahead,” informed Arora.

It will look at a three-pronged strategy that involves D2C, cloud kitchens and also newer concepts such as expanding the floor size of our stores and making them more experiential, he added.