Wow! Momo and Cafe Coffee Day get into strategic partnership

Wow! Momo Foods, which operates two quick service restaurant brands Wow! Momo and Wow! China and had launched its grocery arm Wow! Momo Essential Services amid the coronavirus pandemic, in April, has now entered into a strategic partnership with India’s largest homegrown coffee chain (in terms of number of outlets), Cafe Coffee Day (CCD).

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The quick service restaurant (QSR) chain’s offerings will be available at over 30 CCD outlets, across the three traditional formats of dine-in, take-away, and delivery.

The pilot project took off on Saturday (June 27) at CCD outlets across Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Mumbai, and saw a “very good and positive start” over its first weekend, Wow! Momo CEO and Co-founder, Sagar Daryani, told YourStory. 

Both CCD and Wow! Momo have devised a commercial model where they will share costs and revenue.

The partnership comes on the back of the Kolkata-based QSR startup’s 2020 vision of collaboration and co-creation. 

“2020 will be all about collaboration and hyper-bundling of experiences. We find this collaboration a perfect one under PM Modi’s push for encouraging locally grown brands. At one hand we have a brand that redefined coffee drinking experience in the country, and on the other hand it is Wow! Momo, which has created a national chain and a category out of a roadside snack like momo,” Sagar said.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio programme, once again reiterated that citizens must lend their support in making India self-reliant or atmanirbhar and become ‘vocal for local’ in a bid to support the country.

Speaking on the partnership, Cafe Coffee Day CEO Vinay A Bhopatkar said, “We believe collaborating with Wow! Momo will give us the right synergies to offer our young consumers the experiences they are looking for under the same roof and give them another reason to enjoy their favourite snack and coffee, with safety.”

CCD, which is often credited with bringing the coffee shop chain in India, has over 1,000 outlets across the country. It opened its first cafe in Bengaluru in 1996. ​

Wow! Momo’s range of momos includes steamed, fried, and pan fried variants that largely come with white and brown flour options. Beyond the traditional offerings, the chain serves sizzler momos, MoBurg (momo burgers), tandoori momos, among other things.

Speaking on the future of Wow! Momo Essential Services, now that the lockdown restrictions are being lifted across the country, Sagar said the startup may limit it from July onwards, but was the “need of the hour” when it launched. 

“This gave us brilliant revenues and cash flows for May and June. But now, as unlock has started and things are getting back to normal, there is a decline in orders, as was expected,” he said.

Wow! Momo Essentials may be converted to Wow! Momo Select, with limited products on offer, he added. 

Started in a garage by two students of St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, the QSR chain today has over 345 outlets across 16 cities in the country.

The startup raised an angel round for Rs 10 crore from Indian Angel Network (IAN) in 2015, followed by a Series A round of Rs 44 crore from IAN, Lighthouse Funds, and Fabindia’s William Bissell in 2017. Last year, Wow! Momo was valued at over Rs 860 crore, with an infusion of Rs 120 crore as series B funding by Tiger Global. It also plans to list itself on the Indian stock markets in the next five to six years.