are becoming health conscious says dhawan there is a huge untapped market for a healthy alternative to the traditional fast food joints in india he reckons theres another factor points out dhawan that will help the canadian brand develop deep roots in the country indians are now more open to experimenting with food thanks to an increased exposure to global markets being a foreign brand helps as the concept is already established abroad so the reputation helps in attracting firsttime customers he says dhawan realises that just bringing in a global brand doesnt assure success awareness of the market tastes and trends assessing the demand and the ability to cater to it in a timely fashion are key even global brands can fail if they fail to adapt says dhawan adding that getting a master franchisee is a big investment game he spent an estimated rs 5 crore to rope in the brand and in opening three stores in india the indian partner for any global food brand in the country says dhawan has to shell not only the master franchisee fee but also has to pay a royalty incur staff expense invest in advertising and marketing and bear the cost of real estate dhawan declined to share the financial details of the deal with pita pit breaking even is not an immediate priority for dhawan its a test match and not a t20 game although i will play the test match in t20 style pizza with puri new yorkbased pizza chain sbarro made its india entry in 2007 a good 10 years after dominos too late maybe maybe not the optimistic way of seeing the belated entry is that the two big daddies dominos and pizza hut had built the market and developed the taste buds of indians for the italian cuisine whats more sbarro is different from the early movers in that it serves pizza by the slice in its 800odd outlets across 33 countries three years later however sbarro wasnt going anywhere along with its joint venture jv partner hotz industries faulty site selections and financially unviable stores contributed to the chain terminating the jv in 2010 four years later sbarro was back with a different entry strategy rather than tie the knot with one partner the pizza chain inked deals with three different master franchisees for the country akhil puri chief executive of jyoti international foods private limited jifpl which holds the master franchisee rights of sbarro for north and east india is one of them he too has observed sbarros missteps in the past location plays a major role one must be realistic about expansion and one must have the right business model says puri puris puneheadquartered jifpl though is not new to the food sector having a presence in food supply and the cold chain sector with clients such as chilis krispy kreme and starbucks its tryst with qsr started way back in 2003 when it became one of the