IIT Kingston Graduates Lease Salman Khan’s Commercial Property for opening Gourmet Supermarket
IIT Kingston Graduates Lease Salman Khan’s Commercial Property for opening Gourmet Supermarket
IIT graduate Mayank Gupta and Kingston University graduate Lalit Jhawar, will be taking on the likes of Reliance’s FreshPik and Nature’s Basket which once was owned by Godrej and sold to by RP Sajiv Goenka Group in 2019.
This development comes after Future Retail, who through its subsidiary TNSI Retail Private Limited had opened the store on the Salman Khan-owned property and after renewing the lease in September 2022 for
Rs 90 lakh they failed to make payment in March 2023. This however, prompted Salman Khan to terminate the lease and take back possession of the property for non-payment of dues.
Now it is learnt that IIT Bombay graduate Mayank Gupta, and Lalit Jhawar, a Kingston University, UK graduate
have leased a commercial property from Salman Khan for one crore rupees to establish a 25,000 sq ft gourmet supermarket named ‘Food Square’ on Mumbai’s bustling Linking Road in Santacruz.
The duo are also involved in running the agri firm Landcraft Agro.
The IIT Graduates were Inspired when Future Retail, part of the debt-ridden Future Group, faced insolvency last year, that caused for the closure of FoodHall outlets, including their prominent location on Mumbai’s Linking Road.
Reportedly, Mayank Gupta and Lalit Jhawar, who were former vendors for FoodHall, saw this as a golden opportunity to venture into the premium gourmet supermarket sector.
The IIT duo are also involved in running the agri firm Landcraft Agro.
Landcraft Agro, recognised for the supply of fresh produce to over 200 supermarkets across Western and Southern India for the past five years, served as a strong foundation for this new venture.
Food Square successfully secured $3.6 million in funding from notable investors such as Masaba Gupta, Mukul Agrawal, Purple Style Labs, Sanket Parekh (from the Pidilite Family), Rahul Kalyan (SMIFS), and Harminder Sahni.
“We are farmer-entrepreneurs ourselves, running large-scale aquaponics & sustainable soil based farms in different parts of Maharashtra since over 5 years.
Following the shut down of a popular gourmet supermarket chain they saw an opportunity to enter this space.
According to Mayank, the current valuation of the Indian gourmet food market standing at $1.3 billion, a CAGR of 20 percent, makes it a promising arena.
With Food Square, the duo will be taking over the likes of Reliance’s FreshPik and Nature’s Basket, once owned by Godrej, and sold to RP Sajiv Goenka Group in 2019.
Lalit added that there is competition but if they can improve experience offered earlier, that’s how they were looking to position ourselves.
Lalit cited the example of Harrods in UK for that’s how they looked to place themselves.
While the layout and offerings of Food Square are similar to its predecessor FoodHall, it will house live kitchens, a luxury cutlery collection from Versace, a wine cellar, a separate meat and seafood section, among others.
FoodHall was opened here in 2017 after Future Retail, through its subsidiary TNSI Retail Private Limited opened the store on the Salman Khan-owned property.
It had renewed the lease in September 2022 for Rs 90 lakh. However, Khan sought to terminate the lease and take back possession of the property over non-payment of dues in March 2023.
Food Square saw this as an opportunity and leased this four-storey building from Khan earlier this year. The store soft-launched on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi. While doors are open to the public, parts of the store are still under construction.
After this store in Mumbai, Food Square plans to eventually expand pan-India across Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur and Pune, catering to the HNI and Ex-Pat Community.
News Edit K.V.Raman
