One of the world's iconic restaurant chains, Hard Rock Cafe, is set to open its doors in India. The likely date for Hard Rock Cafe's India debut is the middle of next year. And the likely city where Hard Rock Cafe will launch operations is Mumbai.
The Indian operations of the cafe chain will be handled by the newly floated company Hard Rock Cafe India Pvt Ltd, set up by hospitality entrepreneurs Jay Singh and Sanjay Mehtani.
While Singh is the sub-franchisee of the f Bar and Lounge in Delhi, Mehtani has the rights for the Bangalore f Bar franchise. Both Singh and Mehtani refused to comment on whether they are bringing Hard Rock Cafe to India, but sources close to the development say that the cafe chain has tied up with them for its India debut.
Though Hard Rock Cafe is operating in several other Asian markets such as Kuwait, Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Nagoya, this will be its first outlet in India. Incidentally, the first HRC was set up in 1971 in London by Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett.
Over the last 33 years the chain has expanded to over 115 restaurants at 44 locations worldwide. The HRC chain's USP is reasonably priced American cuisine and it's collection of over 60,000 pieces of rock 'n' roll artefacts.
These include guitars, posters, lyric sheets, photographs, costumes and other memorabilia from the early pioneers such as Elvis Presley and Bill Haley to modern rockers like Spin Doctors and Pearl Jam. A part of the collection is rotated among the various restaurants.
Each cafe has a store located within its premises, which sells the Hard Rock Cafe branded clothing and merchandise. Over the years the HRC brand has become one of the most recognisable global logos.
HRC's global expansion began in 1982 when the founders Morton and Tigrett decided to develop their own cafes in various cities. Today, London-based entertainment company the Rank Group Plc owns the HRC brand under Hard Rock International, a subsidiary of Rank.
Earlier this year, the company diversified into the non-restaurant business by opening two hotels and casinos in Tampa (Florida) and Hollywood.
For the first half of this fiscal HRI's revenues were $205.4 million as compared to $185.3 million for the same period last fiscal. However, the company's operating profits went down from $21.4 million (during the first six months of 2003-04) to $21.1 million during the same period this fiscal.
