UK-based coffee and sandwich chain Pret A Manger becomes the latest high-profile Western brand to open in India.
The company will open its first store in India’s financial hub Mumbai on Friday.
Pret said last year that it works with a unit of Reliance Industries owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
It comes the same week that US tech giant Apple opened its first two stores in the country.
Pano Christou, CEO of Pret, said its offering in the country will reflect the company’s brand “while also adapting to local preferences and dietary habits.”
It is the first company from Reliance Brands, which also owns India’s largest retail chain, into the country’s growing food and beverage industry.
Reliance said its first outlet was a replica of Pret’s UK stores.
The stores will target “the new Indian consumer,” said Darshan Mehta, managing director of Reliance Brands.
The launch comes just days after Apple CEO Tim Cook opened the iPhone maker’s first retail store in India.
The opening of the store on Tuesday in the financial center of Mumbai was followed on Thursday by a second branch in the capital, Delhi.
Pret A Manger, which means ‘ready to eat’ in French, was established in London in 1983 with the first store opening the following year.
After the original company went into liquidation, the brand was bought by college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe, with their first store in 1986.
The brand currently has 400 stores around the world in nine markets including the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Reliance Brands operates more than 2,000 stores across India.
In 2021, parent company Reliance Retail announced a franchise deal with US-headquartered convenience store chain 7-Eleven.
The transaction helped solidify Reliance’s position as India’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer.
Mr Ambani has a personal fortune of around $84 billion (£67.5 billion), according to Forbes magazine.
The 65-year-old’s late father, Dhirubhai Ambani, founded a textile manufacturer that would later become Reliance Industries.
It is now one of India’s largest conglomerates – with companies such as petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecommunications and retail.
Mr. Ambani is Chairman of Reliance Industries. The Ambani family owns 49% of the company.
The family also own assets in the UK worth tens of millions of pounds.
In 2019, a unit of Reliance Industries bought legendary British toy retailer Hamleys for an undisclosed sum.
Two years later, Reliance bought historic British country club Stoke Park for £57million.
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