Jubilant FoodWorks remains an outlier in domestic food services, as peers such as Devyani International, a franchisee of KFC and Pizza Hut, Westlife FoodWorld, best known for running McDonald’s restaurants in India’s south and west, and Sapphire Foods, also a franchisee of KFC and Pizza Hut, struggle to maintain same-store sales growth (SSG).
While most popular fast-food chains are dealing with stiff competition from local restaurants on price and menu, Jubilant FoodWorks, which operates brands such as Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin Donuts, is best placed to counter this trend, experts said, led by its wide store network (nearly 3,500 stores in total; of which 2,500 are Domino’s stores), aggression on delivery (estimated at 70-75% of sales) and constant menu innovation.
How does Jubilant FoodWorks’ performance compare to its peers
In the second quarter of FY26, for instance, Jubilant FoodWorks delivered its fourth straight quarter of strong SSG at 9.1%. The firm delivered an SSG of 12.5% in the third quarter of FY25, 12.1% in the fourth quarter and 11.6% in the first quarter of FY26.
In contrast, peers such as Westlife FoodWorld, Devyani International and Sapphire Foods have seen mostly flat to negative SSG in the last four quarters, as consumers prioritise value meals and quick deliveries.
While most food-service operators have pushed low-priced offers, unlimited dine-in schemes and online orders aggressively in the last few quarters to attract value-seeking consumers, Jubilant FoodWorks has pushed the pedal even harder on both speed and innovation, analysts at Nuvama Institutional Equities said, with free delivery as well as ensuring orders are delivered to consumers within 20 minutes.
In an investor call earlier this month, Jubilant FoodWorks MD & CEO Sameer Khetarpal said that the company’s delivery channel revenue growth continued to be over 20%, driven by its free delivery initiative, which was launched over a year ago.
What did Khetarpal say?
In a conversation with FE, Khetarpal said that the company had focused on operational excellence to drive speed as far as its deliveries go and is also doubling down on value and offering more cheese in its products. Apart from that, the company has driven platforms such as post-11 pm eating, introducing more vegetarian and non-vegetarian options based on regions and remains aggressive about store additions. For instance, the company proposes to add another 1,000 stores of Domino’s in the next 2-3 years as the eating-out trend grows in India.
“We deliver more orders in 20 minutes,” he said. “Whether it is Diwali, Christmas or New Year, our store staff is available late into the night and we are present everywhere, which works for us,” he said.
At a broader level, most QSR firms are counting on a recovery in the second half of the current fiscal, led by improved consumer sentiment, impact of monetary and fiscal policy measures initiated earlier this year and lower food inflation. Though store expansion, coupled with higher operating costs have kept margin expansion at bay, analysts say the trend may improve as volumes recover in the coming quarters.