He goes on to say, “Chennai is a market that should certainly be growing in the restobar segment. However, many of the rules and regulations were highly discouraging for us. Only hotels were getting liquor licenses to start with. Once such rules change, there are certainly more avenues for growth. Our project has been more than a year in the making. And we are also looking at launching restaurants here, based on the success of this venture.”

Giving us an idea of the company’s footprint pan India, Sukhija says, “As of now, we have 26 outlets. Bengaluru is also getting a new outlet called Daddy, and another Lord of the Drinks in the city. We hope to touch a target of 40 outlets pan India by the end of this fiscal. The availability of Input Tax Credit to our businesses, which is heavy on capital expenditure, would give us a level playing field alongside the hotels. Without ITC, we will only be driving up the unorganised sector.” On international expansion, he says it’s planned for the next year. “Last year, we closed at a revenue of Rs 227 cr and this year we will be targeting close to Rs 300 cr,” he tells us.

The bar chain is a collaboration between First Fiddle Restaurants and partners Raj Thirumal, Manish Khubchandani, Kartic Ramesh and Kartik Elamvazhuthi.

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