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Papa John's opens 4 restaurants in Bengaluru

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India among top focus markets alongside China, UAE - Papa

John's

CFO

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Menu tailored to India's vegetarian market - executive

By Praveen Paramasivam

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Papa John's International is

placing India among its priority markets globally and tailoring

its offerings to local tastes with its maiden

majority-vegetarian menu, executives said, in a move the U.S.

pizza chain expects will fuel long-term growth.

The world's third-largest pizza delivery company, which

exited India in 2017 citing underperformance, has relaunched

with four stores in Bengaluru, it said on Friday, and plans to

open 650 stores nationwide over the next decade.

The pizza chain's return comes at a time when executives and

analysts tip discretionary spending in India to recover on the

back the recent tax cuts, after several quarters of sluggish

demand across the fast-food sector.

"India is one of our priority markets," CFO Ravi Thanawala

told Reuters.

India, alongside other focus regions such as China and the

United Arab Emirates, receives "the greatest amount of

management focus," Thanawala said.

The company, which has nearly 6,000 outlets in around 50

countries and territories, is putting in most of its time and

focus in such priority markets for technology strategy

development and consumer research to drive long-term growth.

Indian investment firm Pulsar Capital and UAE-based PJP

Investments Group are Papa John's joint master franchisees in

the country.

India is set to become PJP's largest market within six

years, surpassing its combined store count in the UAE, Saudi

Arabia and Jordan, the investment firm's CEO Tapan Vaidya said.

The franchisee currently operates about 150 Papa John's

restaurants in these Middle Eastern countries.

To attract footfalls, Papa John's is offering more

vegetarian pizzas than non-vegetarian ones for the first time in

its history, Vaidya said.

India has the world's highest number of vegetarians.

Papa John's is pricing its entry-level margherita pizza at

149 rupees ($1.68), Vaidya said. In comparison, market leader

Domino's Pizza's margherita pizza starts at 109 rupees.

($1 = 88.6910 Indian rupees)