Bella Italia, the Casual Dining Group-owned brand, has confirmed that will make its international debut in India, with a restaurant opening in New Delhi.
As flagged up by M&C last year, the Nick Whit-led brand has signed franchise partnership with Wave Hospitality, to launch within the Holiday Inn Hotel, in Aerocity.
CDG, which opened a Café Rouge restaurant in Dubai last year, said it has “ambitious plans” to roll-out all of its brands (which also include Las Iguanas and Belgo) across the Middle East and Asia, in concert with strategic franchise partners.
At the same time, the company has hired Mark Nelson, former managing director specialist Markets at contract caterer Elior, to oversee its international expansion plans.
Split over two floors, the new fully-licensed restaurant will feature 100 covers and employ 25 people. Aerocity, close to Indira Gandhi International Airport, already has several luxury hotels, three shopping malls, a variety of food and drink outlets, plus offices, and is undergoing further development within its 45 acres.
Nelson – managing director of CDG’s newly-formed international franchising and concessions arm – said: “Opening in India is a hugely exciting development for Bella, and for us as a business. We have plans to take our brands around the world, and opening Bella in one of the most dynamic cities, in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, feels genuinely ground-breaking.
“Aerocity is a great fit for a Bella: it already has a thriving dining, hospitality and leisure scene, but is still developing rapidly – in response to India’s booming appetite for casual dining – which means there’s room for us to offer our much-loved Italian cuisine to a new audience.
“In Wave Hospitality we’ve found a like-minded partner, one that will help establish Bella in a new market with enormous potential. They recognised that we’re investing heavily in growing the business, in new products and innovation, in menus and restaurant design, and wanted to be part of the Bella story. We’re very excited about the reaction the brand – very well-established and loved across the UK – will get in India. We’re confident it’ll land very well.”
Aditya Talwar of Wave Hospitality said: “We are delighted to be partnering with CDG to open the first ever Bella Italia outside of its home market of the UK. The strong demand in India for high quality and proven restaurant brands gives us great confidence that this new Bella will be the first of many openings in India, and the wider Asia region.”
News of the new site in India comes days after Bella completed four UK openings in the month of February, taking the number of restaurants that operate under the brand to 97 across England, Scotland and Wales.
