61
/ 5
Min Read
Wow! Momo Foods, one of India's largest homegrown foods and QSR companies, is taking an Indian food business to the world. Its QSR business will begin operations in Sri Lanka by the end of this year, while Wow! FMCG, which has already taken the Wow! brand into 14 countries, has identified the USA, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand and Canada as markets for the next 12 months.
The Sri Lanka launch is led by Softlogic Corporation, a diversified Sri Lankan conglomerate with interests across healthcare, insurance, hospitality and retail, which Wow! Momo Foods has partnered with as its master franchisee. The first three outlets in Colombo will bring three different Wow! experiences to consumers:
- Wow! Momo Asia, the new format flagship store, at One Galle Face (OGF) Mall
- A food court outlet at Havelock City Mall
- A standalone restaurant at Arcade Independence Square, the heritage property in the heart of Colombo
The company plans to take the Sri Lankan network to 20 outlets within the first two years. For Wow! Momo Foods, the launch is the first opportunity to take its QSR experience outside India, understand how consumers respond to the brand in a new market and build the operating and partnership model that can support its international ambitions.
"When you build a brand in India, you naturally start wondering whether the same love for the product can travel beyond the country. But going global is not about assuming that what works here will automatically work everywhere. It is about listening, learning and adapting. Sri Lanka is our first real opportunity to do that with our QSR business. We want to take what is distinctly Wow! while remaining open to what every new market can teach us," said Sagar Daryani, Co-Founder & CEO, Wow! Momo Foods Pvt. Ltd.
The next market on the QSR roadmap is the UAE, with Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah being evaluated as the initial markets. The company is in discussions with prospective partners and exploring both joint venture and master franchisee structures, as it looks to understand how the brand can operate across a highly diverse consumer base and a mature international foodservice environment. Looking further ahead, it is targeting the United States after the next two years, using the experience from Sri Lanka and the UAE to build the right market, menu, format and partnership model before entering.
The international journey did not begin with a restaurant. Wow! Momo started with a simple ambition to make a food Indians already loved more accessible, more exciting and more relevant to a new generation of consumers. That idea has since grown across brands, formats, cities and countries. Wow! FMCG products are currently exported to the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Russia, Singapore, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, with access to more than 1,000 international touchpoints across modern trade and ecommerce. The portfolio includes momos, noodles, cup noodles, smileys and kulfi.
Partnerships have been central to building this footprint. Wow! FMCG has entered into a strategic partnership with LuLu Group International to expand across markets in the Middle East and through other key retail channels, and has also partnered with Noon and Amazon Middle East across ecommerce and modern trade. In Singapore, Wow! has partnered with Mustafa Centre across its FMCG range. Wow! FMCG products are also being used across international restaurants, cafés, catering businesses and commercial kitchens.
Mithun Appaiah, CEO, Wow! Sales Pvt. Ltd., said, "Our FMCG journey has been built market by market, with a strong focus on understanding local consumer behaviour, building the right distribution partnerships and creating a portfolio that can scale across diverse markets. Reaching 14 countries and more than 1,000 international touchpoints has given us valuable insight into where our products have the strongest potential and how we can build sustainable growth in each market. Our next phase is about going deeper in existing markets, entering new geographies and strengthening our retail, ecommerce and foodservice ecosystem to create a scalable international FMCG business."
The FMCG business is simultaneously in discussions with large global retail chains to deepen its international distribution. Today, 100% of the Wow! FMCG business is built around branded retail, and the company describes its international strategy as learning how an Indian food brand can earn a place in different cultures, markets and consumer occasions
Founded in 2008, Wow! Momo Foods Pvt. Ltd. is one of India’s fastest growing homegrown QSR chains, with 900+ stores across 100+ cities. What began as a single kiosk has grown into a multi-brand portfolio comprising Wow! Momo, Wow! China, Wow! Chicken and Wow! Kulfi. The company is credited with building and reinventing the momo category in India through steady product innovation and a strong supply chain, delivering consistent quality and customer experience at scale.
