Not Just Marketing, The Marketing Cell School of Business Management NMIMS University, India

Jumboking: The Vada Pav Goes National

After pursuing his MBA degree, Mr. Dheeraj Gupta could have taken a high paying job or joined his family business. Instead he, along with his wife Reeta, chose to start new ventures on his own and eventually set up Mumbais largest vada pav chain, Jumboking (Refer Exhibit 1), which actually branded and sold Mumbais favourite fast food, the vada pav. Jumboking began its journey to brand the vada pav on 23rd August 2001. Inspired by western models and applying it to Indian food, Jumboking believes that the common man has the constitutional right to get hygienic food at an affordable price. Today, Jumboking has a team of people spanning the functional areas of operations, business development, franchisee relations and marketing.

Understanding the Vada Pav: What makes it work? Also referred to as the Indian Burger, a vada pav (Devnagari: ) is essentially a batata vada served hot inside a pav (bread) with savoury condiments called chutney (Refer Exhibit 2). A batata vada consists of a deep-fried potato mash patty coated with chick pea flour. The vada is roughly spherical in shape around two or three inches in diameter. The vada pav is one of the most popular fast food items in Mumbai and Maharashtra. Initially considered to be a food item of the working class, the vada pav has been widely accepted across all walks of life (Refer Exhibit 3) due to its taste, ease of preparation and the value of money it typically offers. It is commonly sold at street-side joints as well as in restaurants.

The Business Model Jumboking outlets are set up primarily on a franchising model which has been a success for the massbased food industry. An individual willing to set up an outlet must be willing to start the restaurant business with an investment of a few lakh rupees and time of around 10 hours per day, 365 days a year. The member becomes a part of the fast food franchise from the date of joining this business and derives many benefits from the brand name, which has been trusted by the customers.

The case has been prepared by Not Just Marketing (NJM), The Marketing Cell, SBM, NMIMS University for the event NJM Week 2012 on the basis of published sources and inputs from Jumboking Foods Pvt. Ltd. Copyright 2012 NMIMS University and Jumboking Foods Pvt. Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of NMIMS University or Jumboking Foods Pvt. Ltd.

The USP Contrary to vada pav sold by hawkers, the Jumboking vada pav is cooked in a state-of-the-art and hygienic system (Refer Exhibit 4) at every outlet at a price which is slightly higher than its unbranded counterpart. Considering the target market, i.e., youngsters and adults who are on the move, most outlets are strategically located in busy areas like areas surrounding railway stations.

Jumboking Innovations The vada pav served by Jumboking is different from the unbranded vada pav sold in local restaurants and food joints. The bread used is a two-piece bread akin to the one used in burgers and the vada is flatter in shape. New variants have been developed incorporating flavours from popular Indian and Chinese dishes. Beverages like flavoured lassi are also sold in some outlets. Jumboking also provides combo meals in association with Pepsi to provide a quick wholesome meal (Refer Exhibit 5).

Moving Beyond the Land of the Vada Pav Jumboking currently has more than 50 stores, mostly in Mumbai and other towns in Maharashtra (Refer Exhibit 6 and 7). Statistics say that around 1,50,000 vada pavs are sold in Mumbai. In October 2011, Jumboking set its foot outside Maharashtra by setting up an outlet in Bengaluru (Refer Exhibit 8). However, taking the concept of selling vada pavs outside the city of Mumbai is going to be a challenging task.

Jumboking is looking for suggestions to answer the following core issues: How do you transform the vada pav from the fast food of Mumbai to the fastfood of India? How do you convince convince customers in other Indian cities to try out and regularly start consuming the vada pav? What additions or improvements can be made to the menu, if any, to make Jumboking relevant in other cities keeping Jumbokings USP in mind?

The participating team is free to choose any one of the following cities to present their analysis giving a clear description of the business opportunities and patterns prevalent in that city
Bengaluru Chennai Delhi / NCR Hyderabad Kolkata Ahmedabad Jaipur Lucknow Nagpur Nashik Kochi Coimbatore Visakhapatnam Bhubaneshvar Bhopal Guwahati Varanasi Ranchi Raipur Jamshedpur Dehradun Kanpur Indore Patna Pune Surat Vadodara Ludhiana Thiruvananthapuram Chandigarh

Exhibit 1 Dheeraj Gupta with wife Reeta at a Jumboking outlet

Source: www.growthinstitute.in

Exhibit 2 Celebrities from the world of entertainment and sport have been regularly associated with Jumboking

Exhibit 3 Typical Vada pav served with chillies and chutney and the Jumbo King Vada Pav

Exhibit 4 Kitchen in a typical Jumboking outlet

Source: www.burrp.com

Exhibit 5 Jumboking Menu and Pricing

Source: www.zomato.com

Exhibit 6 Timeline of Jumboking

August 2001 August 2003 August 2004 August 2005 August 2006 March 2007 March 2007 February 2010 November 2011 First Outlet was opened 2 outlets existed Jumboking reached a figure of 6 outlets 15 outlets were operational Target for at least 30+ outlets Award for New Concept Franchising Award for Innovative Franchisee Model Jumboking sold its seven croreth vada pav Jumboking sold its nine croreth vada pav

Source: Jumboking Official Website

Exhibit 7 The Vada Pav Meter showing the vada pavs served by Jumboking till date

Exhibit 8 Jumbokings newly opened outlet in Bengaluru