Retail of fresh produce now on A2B’s platter

It entered the vegetable and fruit selling category with the launch of A2B Greens two months ago. The restaurant chain also made its debut in the US though the formal launch is slated for next month at Dallas. A2B is now finalising plans for entry into Ahmedabad. Additionally, its retail division that started functioning last year has used the ‘kirana’ route to place its snack and instant mixes stocks through 30,000 outlets. Ice creams and bakery too are proving to be focus areas for the traditional brand. 

Bringing in a professional CEO, formerly with Sri Krishna Sweets, is a development that is setting the tone for A2B’s growth and expansion strategy. “We have proficient in-house staff, who manage the day-to-day operations of the business,” is how V Vishnu Shankar, Director, A2B, responds, when asked about the new hire. The next-gen entrepreneur joined the family business four years ago. His father, KT Srinivasa Raja, along with his elder brother KT Venkatesan, steer the three-decade-old enterprise, founded by their  father KS Thirupathi Raja. 

Amidst talk of the chain diluting its stake to private equity investors, Shankar, a hotel management graduate, refutes it by maintaining that engaging one of  big four consultants was more from an auditing perspective. A2B is gearing up to go public, he added. In the latest reports, KT Srinivasa Raja, confirmed the appointment of Deloitte to help the company to raise funds. 

When probed about the buzz surrounding the entry of Raja’s two daughters into the business, Shankar dismissed it saying that they were still pursuing higher education. However, he adds that his uncle KT Venkatesan’s daughter, who had recently got married and is studying in Singapore, had expressed an interest in joining the family business. 

Once a pure-play sweet and savouries retailer, a makeover in the year 2000 in the form of the rebranded A2B (from Shree Ananda Bhavan to Adyar Ananda Bhavan in 1988) also meant its foray into restaurant business at Puducherry. “With diabetes on the rise, this proved to be a prudent move as the restaurant model helped in cross selling,” Shankar says, noting this was the first location where expansion activity took off with its base kitchen being established in the union ter ritory. A2B then moved to Coimbatore where setting up a central kitchen proved to be its turning point, he said. “We are growing 15 per cent year on year,” he says. 

The group had also begun eyeing the expansive national highway stretches as new growth territories. The first one came up at Chinnar, near Hosur, in 2005 and since then, it has about 25 outlets on the highways out of its total 120 outlets spread across TN, Karnataka and Delhi. “We will be adding 20 more outlets this year. We are also planning to expand to Hyderabad and Ahmedabad but are waiting for GST implementation for more clarity,” says Shankar, citing high rentals as a main cause for carefully choosing locations.  

A2B, which has two outlets in Delhi, is also eyeing an entry into Mumbai, where the market is huge but exorbitant rentals are making it cautious. Growth in NCR is on its radar as well. The TN player intends to tap the highway locations such as Delhi-Agra and Ahmedabad-Rajkot for enhancing its North presence. 

Two months ago, A2B Greens was launched at Pallikaranai. Branches in Velachery and Shastri Nagar are on the anvil.

In the snack segment, A2B has introduced 10 products and in the instant mix, A2B offers 50 varieties. A 100-member strong marketing team drives the retail by stocking and vending through the 30,000 neighbourhood stores. 

The US Consulate tweeted “Chennai’s @A2BRestaurant plans 2 open its 1st outlet in US in Aug 2016!” Will be formalised with launch planned for Apr 14/15 in Dallas