Binge on sumptuous yogurts this summer as Smooy-the Spanish frozen yogurt brand is set to make a way into Indian market this year. If you have right location, customised menu and various toppings on offer then, investing in frozen yogurt brand’s franchise
Ice creams are passé, as frozen yogurt seems to have taken their place. Nowadays people tend to pay more attention to the nutritional value of a healthy dessert. India's frozen yogurt market is on a new high like never before. Yogurt has nowadays taken over “dahi” in the upmarket owing to healthier benefits associated with it. As conscious consumers look for tantalising their taste buds by adding a tinge of multiple toppings, frozen yogurt is now set to make rapid strides as it offers entrepreneurs a unique business idea that tends to bring forth fast cash.
After analysing the current market trends in India with regard to acceptance of frozen yogurts, Smooy, Spain's most loved frozen yogurt, now makes its ingress into India for spreading its brand's footprints. Smooy began its journey in 2010, when an initiative was taken by Martinez Sirvent Brothers (Nuria, Elena, Almudena y Javier) who belong to the fourth generation of well-known Spanish family of pastry artisans and ice-cream makers. In just two and half years of their stint, Smooy has been able to roll out over 120 stores in Portugal, Algeria and now in India. As consumers are massively conscious about eating it right for a fit body and mind, Smooy as a brand emerged with a focus to motivate and promote the consumption of only healthy products. Smooy's main product is the frozen yogurt that is manufactured through a totally artisan process.
Brand’s offerings
The specialty of Smooy is the yogurt ice-cream, a product with an exclusive formulation that is characterised by low-fat, rich in fibres, without gluten. In addition, Smooy ice-cream retains all the qualities of yogurt: probiotics and rich in calcium. To its customers Smooy offers many flavours: natural, chocolate, cream and a special flavour that they change every week (passion fruits, fruits of the forest, strawberry, mango, melon, banana, etc). All their Smooy yogurts are combined with the highest quality toppings that one can find currently in India too. Smooy offers 40 toppings that allow customers to customise according to their tastes with a flavour base of sauces, chocolates and biscuits. Besides, their menu also offers freezers, beaten fruits, smoothies, crêpes, waffles, and pancakes.
What triggered India entry?
International brands are encouraged by India's booming economy, the receptiveness of Indians to international brands and the fact that Indians love splashing money on healthy desserts. The factors that truly propelled Smooy for making India entry are mainly the rise in consumers' consciousness for picking healthy desserts with varied toppings, disposable income capacity and the hygiene factor associated with it. The brand feels that many indicators showcased India as an attractive market. A growing population, especially the medium-class, is one of the most important factors for favouring the Indian market. For making India entry, Smooy did in-depth market research and found that Indian people like healthy products.
For India operations, Smooy has partnered with Delhi-based Yolasand Group India Pvt Ltd, which has master franchise rights for developing Smooy's expansion strategy for India and the Middle East countries. Talking about the targets they have set for spreading their footprints in India, Luis Gamon, Managing Director, Smooy, says: “We are seeking unit franchisees pan-India, especially in tier I and II cities. We want to develop the Smooy brand in India by collaborating with people who have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and love healthy products. We are ready to give to our franchisees the best support to get a highly profitable business. For expansion, we are looking for closing an exclusive area agreement for a region.” As per Javier Lasheras, Owner, Smooy India says: “Subsequent to surveying the Indian market for 18 months, Smooy is now all set to kick off its India operations by launching its first store soon and further offering best products to consumers.”
Franchising fits the bill
Franchising is referred to as a proven business concept that's been offering multiple profits for ages. Now that franchisees in India are becoming familiar with tried and tested concepts and are helping themselves in becoming a boss of their own, international brands are too eager to benefit from it. Emphasising the franchise business model, Luis says: “We trust the franchise model. Franchising is an excellent opportunity to allow others to share with us our vision for a speedy development and expansion. We believe in the franchise model and Smooy was born knowing that our growth would be through franchisees. That clear objective allowed us to work on our operations model getting a very easy management business.”
When it comes to providing training to the franchisees, Smooy offers to them the operations manual. Smooy trains the franchisees and their staff for 3-4 days. They provide support in opening a Smooy store. For maintaining quality services across their stores, Smooy ensures importing their authentic concentrated products from Spain. As far as India is concerned, the company closes exclusive deal s with the best food suppliers for the rest of the food goods. The company also ensures that the brand's stores maintain high quality standards with the project management team working closely with the franchisees during the opening of each store.
India expansion
Currently, Smooy's India operations are in a developing stage. The company will be kicking off their first store this month in Galleria Market, Gurgaon. They will be opening their second store in Delhi by December. At the same time, many franchisees are interested to join hands with Smooy. Currently, Smooy is working with potential unit franchise investors for opening stores within next three months in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh. For brand dissemination, they conduct promotional activities by participating in franchise meets. Internationally, Smooy is operating 125 stores in Spain, Portugal, Argelia and France, of which five are company-owned. Moving ahead, they are setting up stores soon in France too.
For franchise queries contact: Luis Gamon, Email: info@smooy.in, website: www.smooy.in
In Conversation
Relishing yummy success
In conversation with TFW Bureau, Luis Gamon, Managing Director, Smooy, talks about marking the India expansion by way of appointing unit franchisees.
What, according to you, is the market size of the yogurt industry? Compared to international markets, where does India stand?
The frozen yogurt Indian market has just been born. In fact, the Indian F&B market is a young market which is growing at a rate of 30 per cent annually. The growing medium-class population needs a deep F&B offer, and the frozen yogurt market, especially in India, is just born. In Spain (only 40 million citizens), the frozen yogurt market has over 350 outlets and is growing at 25 per cent annually.
The frozen yogurt market will have a big growth within next five years and Smooy wants to be ahead in this growth story. We are ready for that. We want to be a Spanish Indian frozen yogurt brand.
What motivated you to launch Smooy in India? What kind of market research have you conducted before making entry into the Indian market?
For European brands, India is always an attractive market; it's not very far and with China, it is the biggest market in the world. There are many indicators that show us that India is an attractive market. The population and a growing medium class is one of the most important factors. We did an in-depth market research and found that Indian people like healthy products. Smooy is in India to offer a way of life and a different sort of entertainment. Our Indian friends will be able to spend their evenings in our outlets, with friends, tasting healthy products.
What is your target franchisee profile? What criteria do you follow for selecting the franchisees?
We look for a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a passion for healthy products life, high motivation and maturity, right finances and a bit of business experience. We are seeking long-term relationships.
If we talk of India's frozen yogurt industry, brands like Cocoberry, South Korean brand Yogurberry, Kiwi Kiss Canadian brand, and Red Mango are already there. So, how do you intend to beat the fierce competition in this segment?
The market is pretty big; every one of us has space to develop our business. Honestly, we think we can offer a different product and brand. Our only focus is on offering frozen yogurt. We are very confident about our product and our brand. We don't pay much attention to the competition; we prefer to pay attention to our clients and franchisees.
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