Impresario Handmade Restaurants eyes listing in 2-3 years

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Impresario Handmade Restaurants, which owns premium restaurant chains like ‘Socia’l and ‘Smoke House Deli’, aims to be listed in the next two–to-three years. 

According to Riyaaz Amlani, CEO and MD, Impresario, listing would primarily be aimed at unlocking growth potential”. 

“In the next two-three years, we will start filing explorations going public. That is definitely an option that we are considering,” he told businessline. 

Currently the largest unlisted restaurant chain in India, Social continues to be its most dominant brand for the company both in terms of revenue and presence. The 50th branch of the 10-year-old brand, Social, is being inaugurated on December 21 in Hyderabad. The restaurant chain has a presence across Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Indore and Dehradun.

Impresario also owns a cultural events space called “antiSocial” in Mumbai, Pune and Goa. 

Founded by Amlani in 2001, Impresario owns and manages an umbrella of other restaurant brands like ‘Mocha’,’Salt Water Cafe’, ‘Slink & Bardot’ and ‘Souffle’. Impresario has over 65 outlets in 20 Indian cities. 

In India, Barbeque Nation, Restaurant Brands Asia (parent company of Burger King), Speciality Restaurants Limited – the parent company of Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta – and Jubilant Foodworks, the master franchise for Domino’s Pizza in India, are among the few listed entities in the sector. 

Fund Raise 

According to documents submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Impresario has, between September and November, received investments to the tune of ₹43 crore. While Kotak Mahindra Bank invested Rs 25 crore, HDFC Bank invested ₹18 crore.

Last year, IndiaRF became the majority shareholder of Impresario and L Catterton Asia exited its five-year-old investment in the restaurant chain. 

When asked if the company was well funded, Amlani said, “Currently, the company is very well capitalised and under-leveraged. As we go along, we will improve those ratios (funding) a little bit, but we feel very confident that we are completely funded for the group. We also have a decent line of credit available ”