United Foodbrands

United Foodbrands has set a goal of operating more than 300 restaurants by the close of FY27, the company said on a call held on November 2, 2026.

The company finished the second quarter of FY27 with 274 outlets after opening nine new locations during the quarter, and it currently has 19 additional sites being built.

Management said the 19 restaurants under construction are expected to open across the third and fourth quarters of FY27. Adding all of them to the existing base of 274 would bring the count to 293, so at least seven more openings beyond this disclosed pipeline would be needed to clear the 300 mark; the company has not named sites, formats or dates for those extra restaurants.

Looking past FY27, the company said its medium-term goal is to open 40 to 50 restaurants a year, using the same approach to picking locations and assessing returns that it applied to this year's new openings.

Newer restaurants are generally built at around 3,000 square feet, a smaller footprint the company says boosts sales per square foot while cutting rent and running costs. The profitability of this new-store group improved, with its pre-Ind AS restaurant operating margin rising to 7.4% in the second quarter from 6.1% in the first quarter, still below the 14.7% margin of its established restaurants.

The expansion push comes alongside strong overall growth: consolidated revenue rose 40.9% year-on-year to Rs 429 crore in the second quarter, with same-store sales growth of 24.5% and gains across all three of its reporting segments.

Faster-maturing new stores and a bigger share of Barbeque Nation India locations in recent additions suggest the company is trying to reach stable profitability sooner at each new site, which affects how quickly scale translates into returns.

The company said it intends to fund its growth mainly from its own operating cash rather than new borrowing, though net debt edged up slightly in the quarter due to construction spending on the pipeline, which it said was largely covered by cash generated from operations.

Investors will likely watch how many of the 19 construction-stage restaurants actually open in the third and fourth quarters, and whether the company discloses further sites needed to cross 300 outlets.

Management has flagged that same-store sales comparisons will get tougher in the coming two quarters as the company measures against a stronger year-ago base, and it has set a long-term same-store growth target of 5% to 7%, well below the roughly 20% pace of the past year.

The 65.5% gross margin reported in the latest quarter, down slightly due to input cost pressure, is another figure the company says it is tracking alongside procurement scale and new-store maturity as drivers of future margins.