The startup of domestic drinks, Lahori Zera, is investing RS 175 crores to double its ability by opening a new production system to Lucknow, Nikhil Doda, co-founder and COO, Lahori Zera.Currently, the brand manages 2 structures: Vapi and Punjab. The Vapi structure has a capacity of 1,500 BPM (bottles per minute) and the Punjab structure produces 2,500 BPM.
“We will open the LuckNow structure in 2 phases. This year, we are coming with three lines, which will be operational in a couple of months. And then there are two other lines, which we are planning to put next February next year. Overall, it will be a 4,000 bpm structure,” he explained.
“In addition to this LuckNow structure, part of the revival of the Serie B, we are also investing a co-Cottle bottle model, that is, franchising units. We realized, the type of brand and the product we have at least 15-20 production structures to do justice to the brand and help us satisfy the demand,” he added further.This year, the brand signed up with four co -battler – 2 in Up and 2 in the south of India – and plans to sign two more.
The cooking units are relatively smaller. They have a 500 bpm line.
“This is a model that we have built in the last two years. We have standardized it. The idea is to have a production structure every 300 kilometers in India,” he said.
“In the next two years we will have 20-25 structures coming,” he added.The brand, which offers 6 products in different sizes of the packages, still gets 90 % of its revenues from its product Hero – Lahori Zera.
“So far, we have had a presence in the category of carbonated drinks, but this year we are planning to enter the category of drinks ready for the launch of four new products,” he said.
“We developed a flavor called chatpata Aamras. We did test tests in Delhi last month and, from January onwards, we plan to launch it nationally. We hope it will become a second hero product,” he added further.
At this moment, about 60 % of the brand’s sales still come from the north, including Delhi, Punjab, Ncr and Himachal.
“Every year we begin to sow new states. Currently, we have a presence in 18 states, but about 5-6 of them are in a very nascent phase when we have just started sowing them,” he said.
The brand, which works with over 2,500 distributors and has a presence in over 5 general trade shops map of 5 Lakh, gets 97 % of its GT activities.
“By March, we plan to have 3,000 distributors,” he said.
So far, the brand has collected 2 rounds of funding – Serie A Round for $ 15 million in January 2022 by Verlinvest and Round Serie B worth $ 23 million from Motilal Oswal.
“We still detail 66 % of the brand’s share,” he said.
The brand, which closed the last balance with net revenues RS 535, plans to close this budget with net RS 800 revenues.
The brand’s EBITDA profitability is between 10-12 percent.
