Burger Singh raises ₹30 crores: Plans to open 120 outlets in 6 months
Burger Singh, an Indian fast food company, announced on Thursday that it had received 30 crores in a financing round that was spearheaded by Negen Capital, LetsVentures, Mumbai Angels, Old World Hospitality, and singer Jasleen Royal.
The company reported that existing investors RB Investments, Rukam Capital, KCT Family Office, and the Goa-based V.M. SALGAOCAR family office took part in the Series A round.
Tipping Burger Singh’s holding firm, Mr Pink Pvt Ltd, said that the business could complete the current investment round in just 60 days. In the fiscal year 2023, it plans to use the funds to launch an additional 120 food court locations.
“Our guiding principle has always been to give our investors sustainable growth. The epidemic and inflation were two extraordinary global disasters that didn’t derail our innovative business approach. In the QSR (quick service restaurant) race, We would rather be the winning tortoise of the QSR (quick service restaurant) race than the cursory ill-fated rabbit,” said Kabir Jeet Singh, CEO and founder of Burger Singh.
Burger Singh opened its first location in Gurugram in 2014, and in the next two years, it has established 50 more. Currently, the business operates 80 locations, including Delhi-NCR, Lucknow, Jaipur, Dehradun, Jammu, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Jhansi, Chandigarh, and Amritsar.
“Due to the Indian consumption landscape transitioning to the next stage of evolution, the QSR space in India is a very exciting proposition. The market has become incredibly appealing for investors like us who want to invest in high-growth, predictable, and lucrative businesses thanks to 360 million millennials and drastically improved unit-level economics,” Neil Bahal, founder and CEO of Negen Capital, said.
According to a report by ICICI Securities, the low-ticket segment of staple foods is having trouble because of excessive inflation. It relies heavily on the lowest socioeconomic groups for additional volume. However, it seems that Indians still have a strong taste for fast food, and QSRs are mostly unaffected by this unfavourable perception.
About Burger Singh
Childhood friends Kabir Jeet Singh and Nitin Rana launched the Indian fast food chain Burger Singh in Gurgaon, Haryana, in 2014. Over seven years, it launched its first location in Gurgaon and has now grown to 50 locations in northern and central India. These 50 locations are jointly owned and run by the firm and franchisees.
In 2017, Burger Singh began franchising, offering dine-in and takeaway business model franchisees. Delhi NCR (Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad), Jammu, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Dehradun, Lucknow, Nagpur, Patiala, Jhansi, Panipat, Chandigarh, Muzaffarnagar, and Jaipur are all present in India. There are 3 Burger Singh locations in London. The company infuses an iconic American dish—the burger—with Indian flavours.
They have unique titles for their burgers, like Udta Punjab 2.0, Chicken United States of Punjab, Chicken snacker, Veg snacker, Amritsari Murgh Makhani, Chunky Paneer Pandey, etc.
Burger Singh reportedly made nine crores in revenue in the years 2017–2018.
Burger Singh made 31 crores in sales as of March 2020.
History
On November 1st, 2014, Kabir Jeet Singh and Nitin Rana, childhood friends and co-founders of Burger Singh, debuted the first location in Gurgaon’s Suncity Business Towers. When Kabir Jeet Singh was a student at the University of Birmingham, he originally had the concept for Burger Singh. He worked part-time at a burger restaurant like many other Indian students studying overseas. He started seasoning his burger patties with Indian spices after noticing the bland flavours of the other burgers. His contemporaries began to rave over these burgers, earning him the label “Burger Singh.”
After graduating, he went on to work for a large corporation, but the thought of founding his own burger shop never completely left his head. Burger Singh expanded to Delhi NCR and subsequently to North and West India within the first year of opening, adding two locations in Gurgaon. In 2017, Burger Singh began franchising.
Before attending Sad Business School at the University of Oxford, Kabir jeet Singh participated at the University of Birmingham. It happened when he lived in the UK and worked part-time at a burger restaurant. He experimented with many burger recipes using Indian seasonings. These ultimately gained popularity in public, and as a result, he was given the name Burger Singh by the customers. This is how Burger Singh was conceptualised. Kabir was a member of the founding team of The La Casera Company (TLCC), the third-largest beverage producer in west Africa today after Coke and Pepsi.
He was a member of the founding team of The Beer Café, one of India’s fastest-growing franchises of alcoholic beverages, which was established in 2012.
Nitin Rana has almost 15 years of experience working in the quick service restaurant sector. He has collaborated with some of the most well-known national franchises, including KFC, Pizza Hut, and TGI Fridays. Rana manages Burger Singh’s daily activities.
Rahul Seth joined Kabir and Nitin as a co-founder. He attended Edith Cowan University in Australia, majoring in computer science. Before Burger Singh, he mostly collaborated with Japanese businesses, sharing his market insights on the Indian market. Seth oversees IT and marketing at Burger Singh.
Sanchit Mehta graduated from Fergusson University in Pune with a 5-year BA.LL.B in law. Over the past ten years, he has worked with many start-ups in areas including HR, legal, finance, operations, etc. Mehta is Burger Singh’s vice president of finance.
Burger Singh’s head of supply chain and operations is Ayush Kumar. After graduation from IIT Delhi, he began working with Burger Singh as CEO Kabir Jeet Singh’s executive assistant. He holds a high managerial position at Burger Singh.
Funding
The key investors in Burger Singh are:
• Mr Sanjeev Bikhchandani is an Indian entrepreneur who founded Info Edge, serves as its executive vice chairman and was a founding partner of Ashoka University. Along with Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Mr Ashish Dhawan is an Indian private equity investor and co-founder of Ashoka University.
• RB Investments, a boutique capital firm based in Singapore, was founded by Mr Rajesh Bothra.
• Mr Ashvin Chadha is a co-founder of the Indian investment company Anicut Capital.
• Mr Rannvijay Singha is a well-known television host, actor, and VJ from India.
• V. M. Salgaocar and Brother Pvt Ltd is a business with many integrated industries, including investments but not exclusively. One of the largest corporate empires in India is KCT Group, which has interests in aquaculture, logistics, and real estate.
Edited by Prakriti Arora
