Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Q4 and FY25 Conference call of Barbeque Nation Hospitality Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero, on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bijay Sharma, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Steve. Welcome, everyone, to Barbeque Nation Hospitality Limited's Q4 and Full Year FY25 Earnings Conference Call. For today's call, I have with me Mr. Kayum Dhanani, Managing Director, Mr. Rahul Agrawal, CEO and Whole-time Director, and Mr. Amit Betala, CFO. We will begin the call with Mr. Kayum sharing his perspective on overall demand scenario and key highlights for the year. This will be followed by a detailed discussion on business performance and outlook by Mr. Rahul. Post that, we will open the forum for a Q&A session. Before we begin the presentation, I would like to remind you that some of the statements made in today's conference call may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. Kindly refer to the earnings presentation for a detailed disclaimer. I will now hand over the conference to Mr. Kayum Dhanani. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you. A very good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I take the pleasure in welcoming you to Quarter Four and Full Year FY25 Conference C all of Barbeque Nation Hospitality Limited. Leveraging the resilience of our business model and a strong focus on operational efficiency, we conclude the year with stable performance. During the year, we reported a total revenue of INR 1,233 crores. Our top line was marginally lower by around 1.7% compared to last year, primarily led by negative SSSG. In line with our strategy to focus on profitability, we were able to maintain our profitability despite the challenging business conditions. Our reported EBITDA for the year was relatively flat at INR 211 crores. With a margin of 17.1%, our adjusted pre-Ind AS EBITDA for the year stood at INR 91 crores with a margin of 7.4%. Our three business segments continued to perform in line with our expectations.
For our Barbeque Nation India business, we remain committed to establish it as a preferred celebration destination. During the year, we introduced various value-based promotions to target families as well as corporate segments, broadly focused on large group celebrations. We also continued our culinary festivals to enhance guest experience. In addition, we also upgraded some of our older restaurants to delight our guests with more vibrant ambiences. Our India business recorded revenue of around INR 981 crores in FY25, a decline of 6% compared to last year. However, the Pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margin was INR 118 crores, with a margin of 12% and an increase of 70 basis points compared to last year. Our international business continued robust performance with 8% year-on-year growth in revenues to INR 97 crores in FY25. The growth is primarily led by positive SSSG and faster ramp-up of newly launched restaurants.
This business segment continued to report Pre-Ind AS margin of over 25% during the year. We expanded our footprint in Sri Lanka with the launch of our restaurant in Colombo. Our premium CDR reported a revenue of INR 160 crores in FY25, a growth of over 30% compared to the same period last year. This was primarily led by network expansion. Pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margin for the business was around 18%. Thank you, and I would now hand over to Rahul to walk you through the performance in detail.
Thank you, Kayum. Good evening, everyone. During the quarter, we added five new restaurants and closed one restaurant, resulting in a net count of 230 restaurants. Our year-end network of 230 restaurants included 191 restaurants in Barbeque Nation India business, nine restaurants in Barbeque Nation International business, and 30 restaurants in premium CDR business, that is Toscano and Salt. During the year, we added 18 new restaurants and closed five restaurants, resulting in a net addition of 13 restaurants in financial year 25. During the quarter, we reported a revenue of INR 293 crores. The revenues were down by 1.8% compared to the same period last year. Our SSSG for the quarter was negative 2%, which was flat compared to last quarter and continued to be an improvement trend compared to previous years. Our reported EBITDA for the quarter was INR 53.3 crores, with a margin of 18.2%.
Our Pre-Ind AS EBITDA for the quarter was INR 19 crores, with a margin of 6.5%. We reported a revenue of INR 1,233 crores in FY25, a decline of 1.7% compared to last year. Of the total revenues, dine-in revenue accounted for 85%, and delivery business contributed to balance 15%. Our dine-in revenue for the year was INR 1,040 crores, a decline of 2% compared to last year. The delivery revenue for the year stood at INR 190 crores, an increase of 2.5% versus last year. Gross margin for the year improved by 160 basis points to 68.2%. Around 40 basis points of this improvement was due to declassification. The balance 120 basis points was primarily driven by better realization and efficient management of input costs. Pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margin for the year was 13.9%.
Despite the operating day leverage, the restaurant operating margins marginally improved compared to last year by 30 basis points, led by efficient cost management. Our Adjusted Operating EBITDA for the year was INR 90.6 crores, and adjusted operating margin stood at 7.4%, which was flat compared to last year. Consolidated reported EBITDA margin for the year was INR 211 crores, and reported operating margin for the period was 17.1%. We also maintained a robust EBITDA to cash conversion and delivered INR 80 crores of cash profit.
Barbeque Nation India business SSSG was negative but is on an improvement trend. The business recorded a revenue of INR 981 crores and maintained gross margin levels of around 67%. The Pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margin for the business improved by 70 basis points to 12% during the year. Efficient cost management helped in improving restaurant operating margin compared to last year, despite operating day leverage.
This is broadly in line with our commitment to retaining our margins despite the prevailing demand conditions. We are hopeful that this will enable us to further enhance profitability as the demand scenario improves going forward. Barbeque Nation International business recorded a revenue of INR 97.3 crores during the year, an increase of 8% compared to the same period last year. The growth was supported by positive SSSG and faster ramp-up of new stores. The business segment maintained its gross margin at 74%. Pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margin for the business was strong at 25% plus. In March 2025, we expanded our footprint into Sri Lanka with the launch of our inaugural outlet in Colombo. We plan to open four to six restaurants in a year and will continue to evaluate newer trade areas. Our premium CDR business recorded a growth of 30% year-on-year to close to INR 160 crores.
The gross margin for the segment remained flat at around 75%. Pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margins were 17.6% compared to 28.8% last year. The impact on margins was due to new and yet to mature stores opened during the year, and the mature network continued to deliver restaurant operating margin of 21% plus. We expanded the footprint for this business by entering into new cities such as Hyderabad, Delhi, and Bombay this year. The best response from these three new cities has been very exciting, and we plan to further increase our presence in these cities in the coming year. Our strategic emphasis on maintaining leadership in casual dining and scaling all three new segments has positioned us to effectively navigate industry challenges and achieve sustainable network growth.
We anticipate that our India business network will grow at a rate of 10%-12% over the medium term, while other segments are expected to grow at 20%-30%. This trajectory will enable us to reach our target of operating 300 to 325 restaurants by FY27. Thank you. With this, we can open the session for Q&A.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. If you wish to withdraw yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Viraj Mehta from Enigma. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. My first question is regarding your store openings. You have reiterated that we will grow to 300-325 stores by FY27, which will mean, and we are at 230 today, so which will mean we will need to open at least 30 restaurants this year. Can you please tell us, by May, how many stores have we opened?
So we have three stores already operational now in this quarter, and we have around 12 restaurants under fit-out. Out of these 12, I'm expecting another four to open up in this quarter. So this quarter, I'm expecting to be able to open seven new stores in quarter one.
All of these would be domestic barbecue, or they would be premium CDR or international?
So out of seven, we are expecting between two to three in international. Some of these international pipelines were supposed to open in quarter four but got slipped to quarter one. We have two in premium CDR and balance in Barbeque India.
Okay. You also mentioned that we are seeing improvement in domestic Barbeque as far as SSG is concerned. So are you seeing any signs of reversal of, I mean, negative SSG growth that we have consistently seen for the past several quarters?
So frankly, last year, when I look at, when I say last year, 24, we were at close to 8% decline, which currently fully advances around 3.5%. But have we moved to positive trajectory? No. This quarter itself, we are pretty much similar to what we were in quarter four as of now. But half quarter has gone by. We have to wait for another one. So the recovery is very slow and gradual.
Right. Right. And as far as Barbeque Nation is concerned, we are doing around INR 5.3 crore, which is, would you say it is on the lower end? And once we see slightly positive improvement, and when we go to, let's say, INR 5.7-INR 5.8, INR 5.9 crore sales per outlet per year, what's the kind of ROM that you think we will see from currently 11%-12%?
So if I look at last three-year matured restaurants of Barbeque Nation India business, which is close to around 155-160 restaurants, last three-year average ROM is around 16%. And average sale in this portfolio, on average, is around INR 5.8 crores-INR 5.9 crores or so. So at that number, we will reach to around 16% restaurant operating margin. This is what in the current scenario, which is FY 2023, 2024, 2025, average numbers are looking like.
Okay, and would it be fair to assume that for 30 stores that you mentioned, our new CapEx for this year would be closer to INR 90 crores?
So, new store CapEx, so I think we will do more than 30, at least that's the plan is, and if you look at our current network portfolio, we have around 230 operating. We have around 12 under fit-out, and we have an active pipeline of another 18 where commercials are almost finalized with those sites, and the process of diligence, project viability, and all this stuff is going on. So, I think we have clear visibility of the 30 restaurants as of now, and apart from that, we have another 15 sites which are in very early stage. So, at least our plan would be to target to achieve around 35-40 this year so that we cross 300 by FY27, and also, if you look at our pace, last year, H1, we were doing almost four per quarter. We moved to five per quarter.
Frankly, a couple of sites have slipped to quarter one. They should not have been. And I think we very quickly moved to an average quarter opening of seven to 10. And that's how we plan to meet our target of 300 to 325.
Sure. And I mean, if I look at, by the way, fantastic performance on international piece. On our nine restaurants, now we are doing almost 13 crore plus kind of revenue. And our ROM this quarter is almost 29.6% on pre-Ind AS. I mean, are these like 29%-30%? Are these kind of sustainable numbers, or do you see them reverting back to 25%-26%?
No, I think these are not so this quarter, we also delivered 10% SSSG, and SSSG to positive SSG to margin expansion is a clear story in our business, which we saw this quarter, but I think for the full year normalized basis, 30 will not remain. I think if we can maintain anywhere between 25, 26, it's a good number to have, and as we also expand new restaurants this year, there may be marginal dip also, but on a long-term basis, I think this business should deliver us anywhere between 23%-25% restaurant margin, which on a payback period store basis should look like close to two to a half years.
Sure. And my last question is regarding your premium CDR. When we talk about our premium CDR, we are at almost INR 5.5 crore sales in our premium CDR with 30 restaurants. Provided that these are premium CDRs, when we go from 30 to 60 restaurants over the next couple of years, in your mind, what are your aspirational revenue per outlet?
So it will remain at around 5.5-6. And I'm giving you a range because in some of the newer ones, we may open up slightly smaller restaurants. Our previous ones were at an average size of around 3,000 sq ft. We are now doing some at 2,200 sq ft also. So adjusted for that, I think INR 5.5-6 crore is a decent number to assume for this. Also, I'm not so worried about 30 going to 60 and sort of impacting our revenue per restaurants because if you look at the current profile of this portfolio out of 30 restaurants, 15 are based out of only Bangalore. And the balance 15 are based out of Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune. Now recently opened up one in Mumbai and one in Delhi. So a lot of metro markets are really open to us.
And some of these metro markets have potential of high throughput. So I will not worry about this average number going down. I think the focus would be to ensure that in some of these newer trade areas that we are entering and going with the brand for the first time, we sort of make a mark like we have done in south with these brands and continue to deliver that. I think once we do that and we open up the first three, four successfully, ramping up from three, four to maybe 10 or 12 in every city is not a challenge. And we know that. And by that time, the teams will be set. The entire operating process will be set in these markets. And that's the hard work that has been going on.
When I say that we opened up three new markets, I think we're extremely happy with our performance in Hyderabad, Bombay, Delhi that we launched and took Toscano with.
Sure. And last question on premium CDR. Obviously, you have mentioned that margins have fallen to less than 15% because of newer store openings. But should, as investors, this is more like one-off and a longer-term margin in your view are still around 20% plus or minus percent here and there?
So we have also given you matured portfolio margins.
Matured is 90.2, right? Yeah. But we just wanted to understand what is matured, what is not. So which is why I'm asking for a slightly longer-term understanding. When you open a store, do you think 20% is what you look at when you open a store?
Yes. So matured is very simple. It is anything more than two years in matured portfolio for us. And we don't do any other classification. So we take everything which is more than two years as matured portfolio. So it's that simple. And every restaurant which are more than two years old in our premium CDR concept has done an operating margin of 21.3%, despite the fact that SSG has been slightly subdued in this business also. So I think on long-term basis, they should deliver around 21% margins. The business has very strong gross margins at around 25%. And I think we know how to manage our operating cost, be it rental cost or manpower cost. So I think I'm reasonably confident of delivering 21% restaurant operating margin on this portfolio.
Thank you. Thank you. Best of luck.
Thank you very much.
The next question is from the line of Harit Kapoor from Investec. Please go ahead.
Hey, hi, Rahul. Good evening. So I just wanted to check this 30 stores you mentioned, 30-35 stores. How much of that would be Barbeque Nation India this year? I mean, what's your estimate?
So overall, we want to do around 20 of Barbeque Nation India. We will do around four to five of Barbeque Nation International and between 12 to 15 of premium CDR.
There was a point of time where the SSSGs were okay and your pace of expansion increased in India. You kind of had a year of consolidation because the market was not conducive. What drives the fact that you can open up another 20, which is like a 10%-11% increase in India, in Barbeque Nation India, especially because the format probably not come out of the woods yet completely? I just wanted to know, what are you seeing or what changes are you making to ensure that you're still okay in spite of this fairly sweet pace of expansion expected this year?
So Harit, I'm glad that you raised this. So you're right. And FY23 was the year that we added almost 37 restaurants of Barbeque Nation. But also realize that that is the period when we came out of second half of FY22 and FY23 performance, which was pretty much post-COVID and one of the best periods that we have seen. And on back of that, we have taken some calls which eventually didn't sort of work out, and we have to go ahead and do some corrections in our overall portfolio. I think that part is done now. And separately, what we have done also is we have also strengthened two of our other verticals, which is both international and premium CDR, and sort of built an organization where we feel very comfortable that we can sort of do 30% sort of network addition on this portfolio on their basis.
Similarly, on Barbeque Nation India now, I think we have done corrections in our store formats, our store sizes. I think we don't need 4,200 sq ft areas anymore. We can do this at around 3,200 sq ft areas. So the whole economics have been reworked on. And some of the latest five, seven restaurants that we opened up have all been in this sort of range. This also gives us flexibility to go to prime places, pay slightly higher rentals, but the throughput is good. So the whole change is being done accordingly. And to that extent, I feel very comfortable that 20 is something that the business can very easily absorb.
Thanks, Rahul. And is there a risk in your mind of this 12% pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margin for FY26 for India because of this expansion? Or is that not the right way to look at it? We should just still look at what mature is doing versus new is doing. Just wanted to understand how should we think about it?
No. So frankly, I don't think 12% restaurant operating margin is what we would target to do in our India portfolio. I think at a smaller 50-60 restaurant portfolio, it's to do around 21% margin. Last three year average, it has come down to around 16-17. And the current year, it is looking like 12 on the overall basis, including some of the new ones. These also, as market change, as market evolves, we obviously need to do some corrections. But over a longer-term period for matured portfolio, I think if we look at the business model and unit economics, this will be a five to six crore outlet, depending on the size, depending on location. And on that portfolio, at a unit level, we'll try and achieve sort of 18% restaurant level margin as we scale this portfolio up.
On a blended basis, I think we'll definitely target 16% restaurant level margins in this. Right now, these numbers are not at the best, and these numbers are also after two years of negative SSG. So that revival has to happen, and despite that negative SSG, we are at 12% restaurant operating margin for the full year. So I think once we obviously, we are doing changes on the ground in terms of guest experience, culinary festivals, how to also increase our service, new store designs. So we're working on these guest experiences level, and as this further improves, not that the entire portfolio is negative. We still have 50% plus portfolio, which are positive SSG territory. So as we continue doing these works, I think once an SSG improves, this will flow down to margins.
At least that's what my experience says in this company over the last few years.
Yeah. I don't deny the operating leverage benefit, no doubt about it. I also wanted to check about your prognosis of why last year also was, I mean, we understand that dining has been weak across even QSR businesses. What, in your opinion, would take for this? Apart from your bottom-up initiatives, what would it take, in your opinion, to kind of get back to a positive SSSG trajectory, specifically in the Barbeque Nation, India business? Do you, and what are you seeing in the market right now to say that 2026 could possibly be a year where you get back in the plus trajectory on the SSSG for Barbeque Nation India?
Certainly, very difficult question, and we keep sort of hammering at it every time. The answers are maybe different for different markets. In some markets, there is new competition. In some markets, we need to upgrade our assets, our service, our product. In some markets, consumers feel that the price point is slightly expensive. So the answer is not sort of one for the entire thing, but in general, I think consumers are also looking for, at least in the CDR space, newer experiences. So whenever in any particular trade area, we see a new sort of format restaurant coming in, the fad remains for some time, and it just does impact us. There's no doubt about it, and what happens in our business also is we are a long-term comfort sort of level dining place. We see that both in Barbeque-Nation India business, also in Toscano and Salt.
So that demand keeps repeating. But I think, in my view, if we continue to do what we are doing and we obviously keep improving at that, the guest demand will come back. It's not that some of the other players in barbecue all-you-can-eat categories are doing good. We also got some studies done. Our NPS scores are also better than the other industry players that we got this study done on. So I think it's just about holding on to it, trying to ensure guest experience is good and protecting your margins at the same time. And when this tide turns, I think this flows down very well to your bottom line.
Got it. Wish you all the best, guys. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Harit.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Anurag Krishna from Avendus Wealth. Please go ahead.
Sir, I'm Aaravul, sir.
Yes, sir, you are.
So one question on the Barbeque value proposition. Because you want to position Barbeque as a celebration destination, are we seeing customers finding some other alternatives, going for some other alternatives as a celebration destination? Is that why we are seeing, are you, is there any way that you are keeping track? Because we can't do it from outside, but you know who are, is it competition, or is it people are moving to different formats for celebrations? So any idea on?
Look, our brand sort of stands for celebration. We stand for group dining out. If you go to any Barbeque Nation, any slot, any session, you'll always find three, four tables celebrating either their birthdays or anniversaries or any group dining from corporates. So this is what we stand for. And there is one of the other celebration stories in every table. And we also engage with guests in terms of giving them a cake from our complimentary cake from our side just to enhance their experience.
So this is the positioning of Barbeque Nation. We are not in bulk purchase. Our price points are close to INR 800 per pack. And this suits large groups because when they come in, they don't have to bother about who is eating how much, what the bill is going to be. So that level of comfort sort of is driven by the brand.
And that is what we target. And if you look at our business, our average group size is around four and a half. And we get almost 50% of our business from group sizes of more than six. So that is what we want to focus on. And our point is that for any individual or guest, even if they celebrate one or two occasions at Barbeque Nation out of maybe six occasions that he has every year, I think that repeat rate is very handsome for us.
So exactly, sir, that's what I'm saying is. Are you seeing any competitive intensity in terms of people moving away to other formats for celebration? That's exactly what I'm asking. Is there any way that you are keeping track, like asking your customers or any survey that you have done? Because you have seen there's a continuous SSG negative growth. So maybe in some part of India, not in the whole of India, maybe. I'm not saying it will be the same.
So obviously, the value proposition with some of the other barbecue all-you-can-eat players gives is similar. And in some cases, the price points may be different. But eventually, if you look at on the reported overall number basis, are some of the other players taking away market share? Absolutely no. I don't think there's only one large player, and their numbers also, whatever we can track, doesn't seem to be better than what we've done. So I don't think, based on our internal research, that some of the other larger players are taking away market share in this celebration destination concept of ours.
So then what would be our prognosis? Like that is why there is a slower growth in the last two years, especially. And where there is no growth, where there's still SSG growth, is there any difference between those locations and the other locations where there is negative growth? Is there anything that you have identified and working on?
So working on across the entire portfolio because the answers in every specific trade area may be different. In some cases, maybe there's a competition. In some cases, maybe we need to upgrade our asset. In some cases, the price points may not be favorable. So in some cases, there's a mall which has sort of gone down for whatever reason. So I think the answer is different and different, and we're working across all with individual view across the entire portfolio. In general, I think eating out has been slower for the last two years. That's the impact that we have seen across multiple players. Unfortunately, we only have QSR numbers in public domains. But apart from that, I don't think there is any other reason. But like I said earlier also, specifically South market for us has been more challenging. East has been positive territory.
West is marginally lower, and North again has been also flattish. So apart from these, there is no other separate trend. If not that, Metro tier one, tier two is pretty much similar.
So as a restaurant matures, we can go to six to seven crores for a restaurant, or it is different because the sizes are different? We can assume that average six to seven.
No, at a portfolio level, we can. Our matured portfolio obviously is higher. So as mature portfolio matures, we can.
Okay, so I can understand that you're not at least finding any alternatives where customers are moving to celebrate huge alternative. No, I'm not saying it's a problem.
No. No.
Thank you, sir. All the best, sir.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of Sanjeev Raj from Anand Rathi. Please go ahead.
Hi Team, good evening, and thank you for giving the opportunity. So my side is two questions. So just I want to understand that this quarter, our SSG is -2%. So I understand 75% of our Barbeque core stores are in tier one city. So does this mean that the lower SSG is mainly due to the underperformance in tier two and tier three city? If yes, please clarify.
No, that's not the case. I think between the tiers, I don't see any change in SSG. Metro Tier One, Tier Two has pretty much behaved by and large in similar fashion.
So you are saying that the performance is more or less, it's common for all the cities, right?
Yes.
Oh, thank you. And my second question is, sir, just if you look at the mature restaurants in the core business, it's around roughly 55 million-60 million. So I want to understand where the based on the revenue, so what would be the average dining table turnover per day, or you can say average table utilization percentage in weekend and weekdays?
So we don't share those numbers, but what I can share is our weekday business, which is Monday to Thursday, is approximately 40%, sorry, 50%, and the balance 50% is from Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But I won't be able to show you the table turns and other stuff.
Okay, sir. So last question is that, so can you be able to share some data on a repeat customer for our core business for Tier One and Tier Two cities?
So it's similar to Tier One. So I think between Tier One and Tier Two, the average throughput may be different, but other than that, operating parameters are pretty similar in terms of repeat rates, turns, SSG numbers. They are all pretty similar at a portfolio level.
Okay, so thank you, sir.
Thank you, Sanjeev.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all participants, please limit your questions to two or three questions. The next question is from the line of Naitik from NV Alpha One. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question is, we've seen sort of muted SSG in both our premium CDR and international business on a full-year basis. So I just sort of wanted to understand, was the market condition tough, or what exactly has panned out? Because the SSG growth rate has been sort of declining in both these markets.
So in premium CDR, specifically this year, it has been lower. Also, specifically because a large part of the portfolio, like I said, is in South again. South generally has struggled for the entire dining play, at least in our portfolio. In international business, it's positive, and on a full-year basis, it's around 1%. I think it's lower than FY24, but as you also expand more, you might have some impact. But there's no specific reason why I can tell you it is only 1% positive and not higher.
Right. No, sir, I wanted to understand, I mean, is this expected to continue, or we see sort of SSG growth coming back in these two markets?
No, so I think we are consciously also adding a couple of percentage points on pricing, which has also helped to maintain SSG in these markets. Also, SSG has been calculated on maybe six restaurants. A large part of these are in UAE only right now. So they are on the ninth year of their existence. We have not opened, as you can see, no new restaurants have been opened for the last four or five years, at least on the SSG front. We were six in FY21, FY22, FY23, and then we started from 24 onwards, two and then one this year. So I think the fifth year SSG is a very good sort of trend. As we add more restaurants, I think at a portfolio level, we should deliver between 3% to 5% SSG.
Right.
I think more than SSG also, I think I would be very sort of conscious of protecting our margins at 25%, at the restaurant margin, right? At a portfolio level, even if as we open up new stores, different sizes, different markets, even if we deliver 10 crores of average revenue per store and deliver 25% restaurant margin, I think we have an extremely good business that we have. The real thing is that how can we replicate this from existing nine restaurants to, say, at least a size of 25, 30 restaurants, right? So my focus is largely on that. I would not worry about a couple of percentage points on SSG here or there. I would try and sort of maintain a sound business with 25% restaurant margin and also build scale in that business further.
Right. Okay, go ahead. So my second question is on India business. Are we largely done with the store closures, or we expect some two, three stores to be closed in this year also?
No, so I think we don't have any major store closures coming, but we will continue to relook at our portfolio, and on a base of, say, 200, we may have three or four coming up every year, and that's because if the store is not turning out or not performing, then instead of wasting our time on that, we would go ahead and sort of launch a new one somewhere else, so now, whatever store closures that you're seeing is largely from just having a hard look on one or two which are not giving the desired results.
Got it.
But there's also a sort of big one that is coming out, yeah.
Right. Got it. Just my last question is in terms of depreciation for this quarter, you have seen a step-up jump in depreciation while the finance costs has not seen as much step-up. So is there any one-off, or this is pertaining purely to rental lease?
Amit, can you take that?
Can you come again?
Can you take that question on depreciation? There is a ramp-up on depreciation.
There's no ramp-up on depreciation.
Sir, the depreciation...
Is there anything specific which...
Sorry?
Hello?
Yeah. I was just mentioning that the depreciation is significantly higher for this quarter when I look at it from compared to last quarter or last year's same quarter. So just wanted to know any specific reason or any run-off in it?
So there's no run-off in that case. So whenever there is a store closure ticket, there is a depreciation which happens at the store closure level as well. And because of that, there is an increase in the depreciation. Otherwise, there's no depreciation.
So this is expected to remain the quarterly run rate that we have for this quarter?
Yes.
Okay. Thank you. That's it. Thank you, Amit.
The next question is from the line of Ankit Chaudhary from IIFL. Please go ahead. Mr. Ankit Chaudhary, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. Mr. Ankit, can you hear us? As there's no response, we'll move on to the next question. It's from the line of Madhu Rathi from Countercyclical Investments. Please go ahead.
Sir, thank you for the opportunity. Sir, I wanted to understand regarding the store closure initiative that we took a year back. So how many of the 200 stores currently we have reduced their sizes? And what would be the average store size currently, and where do we expect this to go over the next two to three years as we add on more stores? And the third sub-question would be, sir, we have seen a decline in our other expenses. So is this because of right-sizing the stores and some fixed cost benefit moving to our margins going forward? So if you could help me understand on that.
Yeah. So on the store sizes, on the existing portfolio, obviously, we can't change much because of the long-term leases. So in those, we have done some internal corrections to see whether we can use those spaces for storages for which we are paying outside rentals. We're just trying to improve the economics on that because if you have already contracted 420 sq ft, you can't just give away 1,000 sq ft because the real estate will not work accordingly, right? So the size in the past portfolio remains same. In the new portfolio, the average has come down. So as we maybe add 100 stores to the new portfolio, then the average size will reduce, right? But the operating process of store operations have changed now with the sizes that we have, different sizes that we have launched.
In terms of other expense, it's largely lower because of some of the other line items. This includes, in some cases, external storage spaces, in some cases, electricity initiatives. In Manipal also, we have taken some initiatives, and for the, on average basis, whatever new stores that we opened up has also lower operating cost.
Also, sir, are the new stores, so if I consider the 200 stores that we currently have, how many would be the older legacy stores, and what would be their average sizes? And what would be the new stores, and what would be their sizes currently?
No, so one, these legacy stores don't have a problem, right? These legacy stores that we have are also delivering us a good 16% restaurant margins, right, in the mature portfolio. So please don't get that notion that we have a problem in our existing portfolio and we have to change it. Obviously, we have a problem of SSG, but not because of any inherent problem in this. And there's no way looking at changing this portfolio. I think we're very happy with this, and we are continuing to grow this, right? Just that what we are saying is the new ones that we are now designing, we are designing with smaller areas, which we believe are slightly more efficient in terms of operations and can also deliver better margins at smaller throughputs. So that's the whole concept. And the recent 78 restaurants are also in this new format design.
So in the past, we also shared new look and feel designs of the restaurants. That is what we are talking about here, right? And this also relates back to the previous question which was asked in this call regarding how can we do maybe the 2025 restaurants of Barbeque India. I think we feel very comfortable with this new concept, size, operating cost, that the economics will work on these new store openings.
Got it. So is it fair to assume on a broader level that our new stores will be 20%-25% lower sq ft than our earlier stores because of just to get better economics going forward?
Yes. Also, what has happened is as we have increased our presence, I think it's better for us to also go in prime locations, right, where the rentals are higher. So I can't contract higher per square feet rentals for larger areas. We have to be more efficient in terms of designing some of these restaurants so that we try and get throughput, but also at an average rental cost, on an absolute basis doesn't change, even though per square feet rate may be slightly higher.
Got it. So another question on our, so if I consider our restaurant operating margin that we have mentioned, 16% for our Barbeque India, 25% would be for the international, and 20% for the premium CDR, so how much would be the additional cost that should flow and give us pre-Ind AS? So what would be the fixed cost associated with other than these restaurant operating margins?
No, this is back-end cost only. The back-end cost is the entire regional office cost. So every cost which is apart from the store cost, which is the regional office and the corporate office. So even the marketing costs are part of the restaurant operating cost.
Would that be 4%-5% of revenue?
No, no, so currently, given that our revenues have been flattish, this number has been slightly higher at 6.5%, but on a long-term basis, this will be between 5% and 5.5%.
Got it. Sir, another question is how is your delivery business doing against the acquisitions that we made past quarter of Blue Planet? So how are the margins in that expected going forward?
The numbers of Blue Planet Foods, they are very small, and they are not part of these financials. They have not consolidated. We'll start from next financial year. On delivery business, the SSG on same-store delivery growth has been positive for us for the entire quarter. And specifically on delivery, as you know, we have three brands. One is Barbeque Nation, which is positioned as mostly Barbeque in a box sale, UBQ, which is positioned as meals, thalis, and simple meals. And third is Dum Safar, which is a Biryani position. So out of this, there's one major change that we did in our UBQ business, which is we changed this positioning from UBQ by Barbeque Nation to UBQ for meals and thalis, right? So we lost out on some of the organic demand. And that's why that particular business was negative at the SSG of almost 30%.
But the other two brands, which are Barbeque Nation and Dum Safar, are at positive SSG of approximately late single digit. So very happy with the two brands, which are Barbeque and Dum Safar. We obviously needed to do course correction in UBQ because there was a lot of cannibalization of menu between UBQ and Barbeque, and that was not the desired result. So if we have to grow UBQ as a brand, we'll have to also reposition it separately. So now there is distinct positioning between Barbeque Nation, UBQ, and Dum Safar. And we want to grow that. We obviously lost out some bit on UBQ, but I'm sure as we again rebuild it, we'll get this back. And I'm very happy to see positive SSG and good positive SSG on the two other delivery brands, which are Barbeque and Dum Safar.
Got it. Sir, just the final accounting question.
Yes. Sorry to interrupt, sir. I would request you to please come back and take your time.
I'll do that. Thank you, sir, and I'll do that.
Thank you very much.
The next question is from the line of Akhilesh P., an Individual Investor. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yes, Akhilesh.
Yeah. Sir, I wanted to understand the CapEx outlay a little better. So if we have to open 35-40 restaurants in each of FY26 and FY27, what would be the estimated CapEx for this, and how do we plan to fund it? And connected to that, every year out of our base of 230 restaurants that we have, how many come up for, say, major refurbishment or some kind of major maintenance CapEx? And what would be that amount, and how do we plan to fund that?
So overall, for these 35 to 40 restaurants, we would have INR 100 crores-INR 110 crores of CapEx. We would have another INR 20 crores for maintenance, which will also include some part of refurbishment. And depending on whether we need to really relocate and redo the entire restaurants, maybe another INR 5 crores for a couple of new restaurant sites. And then there is another INR 5 crores-INR 10 crores of corporate CAPEX, which comes up towards tech capabilities, IT work, and these stuff. So overall, for the next two years, I'm expecting a CapEx outlay of anywhere between INR 125 crores-INR 130 crores to INR 140 crores. In the past, we have funded largely from our internal accruals, but this year, if the internal accruals fall short, I think we may have to raise external debt of another INR 35 crores.
Currently, what is the net debt or net cash position as of the last?
Our net debt is around INR 50 crores right now, on a net worth of around INR 400 crores.
Okay. And the second question is for Barbeque India to hit 15% or 16% restaurant operating margins for the full year. What kind of SSG do you think this portfolio will require if we have to hit that same this year or even FY27?
So, average, we are currently at 12%. So I think 5%-6% SSG will also take us to 15% restaurant level operating margin. Also, one is SSG, and like we have done over the last two years, we are also very quick to manage our costs in an efficient manner, right? Last two years, we have seen SSG impacting us negatively, but we have taken pretty much every step to ensure that in a disciplined manner, we manage our costs and try and variabilize as much as possible, right? So I think my focus, at least for the next couple of years, is store expansion, try and build good restaurants for our consumers, and on a larger base, sort of work on your margins. I'm not saying that I'll take my eye off the margins, but my focus is to increase the pace of store expansion.
That's why when I said about the pipelines and all, I think I feel happy that these could be delivered.
Sir, can you comment a little on what levers are left on this cost efficiencies and also on this Blue Gourmet acquisition which you had done? What is your expectation from that in FY26, and is it a drag on the profitability for the company?
So, secondly, this year, no, there is no drag on the profitability. It is mostly a trading on the profitability. This is not consolidated right now. We have acquired 42% or so. We will finish our last tranche of 8% so that we become 51%, and then we'll start consolidating the results. When we acquired it around April, they had three cloud kitchens. We have already opened three more. We have six cloud kitchens now, and on that base, it's going pretty well. And profitability is maintained. I think the focus there is twofold. On one side, we want to expand and increase our production facility. So we'll ramp up our production capability so that we can service more and more kitchens. And on the second side, we'll go and open more cloud kitchens.
Like we mentioned also earlier, this is a small business, and we will take some time to build it, but we'll build it in a profitable manner. These cloud kitchens will not lose money. In fact, they were very profitable when we acquired it, right? Your first part also was on, sorry, I missed the first part.
On the levers which we have for more cost efficiency gains.
Yeah, yeah. So look, we keep looking at everything. There is a large organization. We have multiple sort of areas in which we can make improvements, but I can't tell you specific points right now. But what I'll tell you is we are constantly looking at newer ways of doing things so that we can save something. Even a INR 10,000 sort of saved in one outlet is approximately INR 20,000 per month and close to INR 2 crores per year, right? So we keep a very strong eye on every expense that is incurred at a store level and then try and multiply it back. So some are in pipeline. Some have not worked also. In some cases, we realize that that cost was important and we should not cut it, and we get back. So it's a constant work.
Okay. Thank you, sir. All the best.
Thank you, Akhilesh.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Manjeet from Solidarity Investment Managers. Please go ahead.
Rahul has no question. He's just answered on Willow. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks, Manjeet.
As there are no further questions from the participant, we would conclude this conference call. On behalf of Barbeque-Nation Hospitality Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.