Magazine : 
High Real Estate Cost Drive Food Chains To Smaller Towns
BANGALORE: Several food chains are shifting towards the non metro cities form the tier 1 cities due to the high real estate costs. The restaurants get better returns on their real estate investments in small towns compared to the metro cities.
The quick service restaurant (QSR) chains and casual dining restaurants are looking closely at smaller cities for growth as the customer base and the market potential are almost the same in tier 2 cities as in metro cities.
Usually a restaurant chain would 
50,000 to set up in a small town where as in a metro city it has to invest an amount of nearly 3 lakh. According to the restaurant owners, their exposure to different cuisines in country and abroad assures a good business of the restaurants in small towns as well.
However, they also continue to expand in metros to maintain the growth they have achieved.
Oriental Cuisines is a Chennai-based company that runs the French Loaf bakery and casual dining restaurants like Wangs Kitchen, Benjarong and Teppan.
According to a recent Times of India report, Narendra Malhotra, CEO of Oriental Cuisines explains, "We have partnered with local hotels there and have also signed up franchisees. Rentals are lower at about Rs 40 a sq ft versus Rs 150 in cities, and manpower is cheaper there. We are opening our Chinese restaurant Wangs Kithcen in a place like Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, which shows the potential for such cuisines in small towns."
Moving ahead the company is planning to move into non metros like Coimbatore and Trichy where there is more potential for growth.
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