The company will double its turnover every three years, says Chawla | from Compass Group Company News

He added that in the next three years, Compass Group India aims to serve over two million meals a day and expand its reach to 600 customer locations, thereby strengthening its leadership position in the food and ancillary services sector.

“If we grow at a rate of over 20 percent, which is what we want, I feel like we would be doubling our business every three years, which would give us a very, very significant size from an Indian perspective and also from a Compass Group perspective,” Chawla said.

He refused to share the company’s earnings. Compass India Food Services’ consolidated revenue was Rs 1,212.7 crore and net profit was Rs 33.6 crore in the fiscal year ended March 2023, according to financial data accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler.

The brand serves around 0.6 million meals a day and works with over 450 customer locations across India.

Compass Group India’s ambition is to become the ‘sought after’ food company in India, where food and facilities management capabilities evolve as the economy grows.

“With India’s dynamic economic landscape and initiatives like ‘Make in India’, we see enormous opportunities to scale our business significantly, with a goal to grow our offering tenfold over the next 5-7 years,” Chawla said.

According to Chawla, the next few decades in India will be a period of very strong growth for Compass Group. It will continue to develop support services in key sectors such as manufacturing, education and healthcare.

“We are not just focused on growth, but on delivering value that exceeds industry standards. We closely align our services with our clients’ evolving needs, while also considering strategic acquisitions that will strengthen our momentum. We anticipate that 25-30 percent of our growth in the next fiscal year will come from acquisitions as we look to expand our reach in key markets,” he said.

Asked whether Compass Group India would take advantage of any opportunities offered by government educational institutions and programs such as mid-day meals, Chawla said, “We would be very happy to partner as we are maniacally focused on food safety.”

Regarding the network expansion in India, he said Compass Group has a presence in 45 cities and will focus on large markets like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, etc., instead of “deep expansion”.

“We would go to other cities… However, this will be more opportunistic than the planned expansion, itself to a very large number of cities,” he added.

India is currently among Compass Group PLC’s top ten markets and, according to Chawla, has the potential to be among the top five.

“We see changes taking place in India. If you look at employers, they want better food for their employees. They expect food safety that is much better in terms of standards than what they have been receiving. “If you look at the hospitals that we serve there as well, they are looking for better for their patients and also for their staff,” he said.

Even in educational institutions, people are starting to think similarly about tasty food for students.

“So everyone is changing, and I think over time those changes will accelerate, which will give us much more opportunities to grow,” Chawla added.

First publication: September 29, 2024 | 11:56 IST