Did Baba Ramdev Just Announce His Chain Of Restaurants?

After making a huge empire out of his unreal yoga skills and flexibility, Baba Ramdev went on to make an FMCG giant out of his entrepreneurial venture, Patanjali Ayurveda, big enough to take on existing players like Nestle and Unilever. But looks like the man will stop at nothing. Or so the company’s latest declaration suggests.

Ramdev is looking to foray into the hospitality industry with his own chain of restaurants, which will counter major players like McDonald’s and KFC. “There is a proposal. It is being looked at by the senior management, but it has not been finalised yet,” said a company spokesperson on the matter.

But while Patanjali is still working on its restaurant plans, an eatery called ‘Postik’ in Chandigarh is already taking forward Ramdev’s dreams by using only Patanjali products to make its food. The pure vegetarian eatery worships the yoga guru with even his pictures on the walls and ‘Patanjali Postik’ inscribed on the menu. Needless to say, the owners of the restaurant are Ramdev devotees, and hope that some day Baba Ramdev will visit the outlet.

Image: Indian Express 

Meanwhile, the spokesperson quoted above said that Postik had approached Patanjali. “But there are larger issues to be dealt with. There is a large space for not only vegetarian food, but also “satvik” food, because if you see a large part of the country is consuming junk food from chains such as McDonald’s and KFC. That is not good for health,” he said.

Despite the yoga enthusiast’s fan base and massive clientele, market analysts are skeptical of Patanjali’s restaurant venture. “Serving a packaged product is one business and running a services business very different… But from day one, Ramdev has said that Patanjali is the umbrella brand, and they can branch out,” said brand expert, Harminder Sahni of Wazir Advisors.

That said, they do admit to a brighter side saying that Patanjali has handled its positioning quite well since its inception and has built a strong business. So we’ll have to wait and watch how Patanjali shapes up as a player in the hospitality and F&B business.