Musings From Deepak @ DSG Consumer Partners #87

Founders of SATURDAYS, Andrew Kandolha and Rama Suparta are telling their stories in the new Forbes Indonesia interview. — www.linkedin.com

My partner Sameer Mehta led DSG Consumer Partners' investment in the Indonesia eyewear brand SATURDAYS earlier this year. Founders Andrew Kandolha and Rama Suparta were featured in the latest issue of Forbes Indonesia, sharing their story of building the business. Andrew and Rama continue to execute against the significant opportunity to provide high quality, prescription, and non-prescription eyewear and sunglasses to millennials in Indonesia. Since our investment earlier this year they have grown rapidly to more than 30 stores across Jakarta and other cities with many more in the pipeline.

Counterthesis: Why Wow! Momo’s Sagar Daryani defies convention by running his own fast-food outlets — the-ken.com

Not entirely accurate given that the best brands including McDonald's and Burger King do not franchisee in India. Stores are open by the master franchisee so they have full control of the experience. Franchising is hard and I have seen how painful it is over the last 20 years in India. So what have we done at DSGCP? In our home markets, eg SaladStop in Singapore, Suzette Kitchen Garden in India and Burger King in India, we have company owner stores. Where we have entered the new markets, and this is only relevant to SaladStop, we have tested different models from Joint Ventures in HK and Indonesia to franchising in the Philippines. We will always work with a local partner.

Nestlé aims for bigger bite of $600M thaw and eat category — www.fooddive.com

Do we think the thaw and eat category is read for India & SEA? With consumers continuing to eat out of the office or home, there is a need for innovative solutions.