Landmark Group's Citymax announces partnership with Sanjeev Kapoor

Mumbai, Feb 16 (UNI) Citymax, a brand of the retail giant of the Landmark Group known for its Lifestyle chain of stores announced a long term partnership with India's leading celebrity Chef Sanjeev Kapoor.

Citymax has taken the Global Franchise rights for all three restaurant brands of Chef Kapoor, namely 'Khazana Fine Dining', 'Grain of Salt' and 'The Yellow Chilli'.

Citymax has identified the nascent but fast growing organised amusement sector and aims to be a key player in malls by offering international standards of amusement including gaming and play areas through its Funcity brand. Funcity enjoys 70 percent market share in the Middle East.

A fast roll-out is planned with over 35 Funcity outlets in the next five years.

Citymax has a three pronged strategy own brands, India master franchise rights for Internatinal brands and partnerships with some leading names in the industry. Its No 1 food lounge 'Polynation' was opened in Dec 2006 in Bangalore. Within a month it has become the preferred destination of food lovers in the city.

Speaking to reporters Ravi Saxena, Managing Director, Citymax said ''The objective is to serve the growing demand for Indian food across the world. You can take an Indian out of India but not India out of an Indian. This is nowhere more true than when it comes to food. Even a third generation Indian family in the USA still has dal-roti at home everyday.'' Addressing the media Chef Sanjeev Kapoor said ''To me business is about passion, not about money. Money follows. We needed a focused partner and with Ravi around we can make a formidable force. I can concentrate on my core competence. With a name like mine I cannot afford to be frivolous or trivialize.

''I have been in this industry for 25 years and 'Khana Khazana' has been the longest running show. Our aim is to take Indian food to a different level and make it the number one food in the world,'' he added.

''Chef Kapoor is not only a great chef but also a brilliant food technologist. We are developing not only the brands but also the entire supply chain with his guidance. This would enable Citymax to deliver standardized and consistent Indian food and the same Sanjeev Kapoor taste all across all outlets similar to the way international food chains deliver consistency time and again,'' Mr Saxena added.

UNI