Quick service restaurants, soft drink businesses to bounce back this year: Ravi Jaipuria
quick service restaurants (QSRs) sector has slowed down, and the last year was rough for soft drinks as the April-June quarter, which contributes 35-40% of annual sales, was a washout because of rains. However, the year ahead is expected to see healthy double-digit growth for both businesses, said Ravi Jaipuria, chairman of RJ Corp, PepsiCo's largest bottler, and the largest franchise partner for KFC, Pizza Hut and Costa Coffee in India.
RJ Corp group company VBL, PepsiCo's largest bottling partner in India, bottles and distributes the company's beverages including Pepsi, Pepsi Black, 7UP, Mirinda and Mountain Dew fizzy drinks, Sting energy drink, Tropicana juice and Aquafina water in 27 states and 7 union territories.
He underlined the growth potential in India on account of lower per capita consumption and distribution reach of packaged soft drinks, «India has 11-12 million outlets for FMCG, and our beverages are in 3.5 million outlets only — that shows the sheer scope ahead of us for market penetration.
Even if we add 4-5 lakh outlets per year, we will have so much growth upside,» Jaipuria said.
He said despite the rain-impacted last year, VBL will show 13-14% annual growth for the full year. «We expect 2024 to be much better with healthy double-digit growth in soft drinks, because of category momentum, deeper distribution, electrification of villages which has made retail stocking of beverages more accessible, and additional capacity,» he said.
The company has announced capacity expansion for juices and dairy, including commissioning a plant in Jharkhand with an investment of Rs 450 crore. With a current market cap of over Rs 1.64 lakh crore, VBL is also PepsiCo's second largest bottler outside the US and holds
