India: Mars drops food chain brands and shutters outlets

MUMBAI: Mars Restaurant, the chain behind eating outlets Dosa Diner and Roti, is moving away from quick service outlets and setting up food courts across India.

The company is in the process of closing its restaurant brands, which include Just Around The Corner, The Pizzeria, China Joe, Tendulkar's; and hotels (the Gordon House hotel) and pastry shops (Birdy's Cake Khazana).

Sanjay Narang, the founder of the company, said: "I think most of our brands have a two- to three-year lifespan."

He added: "We realised that all the effort involved to set up a small outlet - getting permission, hiring staff, doing it up - is really much the same as what's needed to set-up a really big combined outlet, so in business terms it made more sense to go big."