Rebel Foods plans to invest Rs 100-150 crore to help American burger chain Wendy’s expand its footprint in India to 500 stores by 2028. This expansion aligns with Wendy’s recently announced global plans to add 1,000 new restaurants by 2028.
Currently, Wendy’s operates through 200 locations in India. Out of these, 185 are cloud kitchens, while another 15 are offline stores. Going forward, it aims to add 300 new locations in India through its local partner. The latest expansion will priotise delivery-only cloud kitchens.
“In 2.5-3 years, Rebel will grow to around 700 cloud kitchen locations; at least 70% of them will have a Wendy’s kitchen,” said Ankush Grover, co-founder and CEO, India, Rebel Foods.
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Rebel Foods which is also the operator behind brands like Faasos, Oven Story, Behrouz Biryani, Smoor, and Slay Coffee, had in 2020, acquired the license to exclusively develop the American burger chain Wendy’s cloud kitchens in India, and in 2023, it entered into a deal to develop and expand Wendy’s offline restaurants, ending the chain’s partnership with Sierra Nevada.
Last month, Rebel’s online food ordering app EatSure, which aggregates all its brands, launched its 15-minute food delivery service, QuickiES, starting in Mumbai with plans to expand to other metro cities.
Rebel Foods currently runs over 450 cloud kitchens across 75 cities in India, the Middle East, North Africa, Indonesia, and the UK. For FY24, the company reported revenue of Rs 1,420 crore, a 19% increase from Rs 1,195 crore in FY23. Losses have been reduced by 42% to Rs 378 crore, with Ebitda burn dropping below Rs 10 crore as of December 2024.
After raising $210 million in December 2024 in a series G round led by Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek, Rebel Foods is now gearing up for an IPO within the next 18-24 months.
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