Chamosa Comes To Town

Pantaloons Forays Into Domestic Fast Food Segment

EH&C Staff - Pune

After having established itself in the retail space with brands such as Central, Big Bazaar and Pantaloons, retail giant Pantaloons will now foray into the fast-food segment with 'Chamosa', a branded chain, which will sell the local Indian snack combination of tea and samosas. The company is testing the concept with the first 'Chamosa' kiosk at Mumbai's Phoenix High Street mall district.

The variations of samosas available will include the Punjabi and paneer samosa. The brand has also launched Samosa lite, which is stuffed with bran sprouts specifically for calorie-conscious customer.

The range of tea available includes masala, elaichi, ginger, lemon and iced tea. "We are planning to roll out the brand at other centres in a few months from now and want to get our operations in order before we go out into the market full throttle," said a Pantaloon executive.

While the preparation of the samosas are currently being out-sourced and fried on location at the kiosk, the company is considering the option of eventually setting up a centralised kitchen. The plan is to roll out the chain gradually at in-store locations in all markets where the company's brands are present and as stand alone kiosks in locations with heavy foot falls.