A Chicken franchise started modestly in 2021 by St. Xavier's College alumni, Sagar Daryani, Wow! Chicken has been making headlines since then, all for the right reasons. The Kolkata lad started his entrepreneurial journey in 2008 at the age of 21, partnering with his fellow St. Xavier classmate, Binod Kumar Homagai. What initially started the Wow! Momo business with just a meagre sum of ₹30,000 came to grow rapidly soon after and currently sits at the Crores benchmark.
Where The WOW! Chicken Started
The fastest expanding QSR food chain, Wow! Momo Foods, after its successful launch of Wow! China, Wow! Momo and China Belly, introduced Wow! Chicken to its nationwide fans. Wow! Chicken offers the option to its consumers to embark outside the time-honoured taste of chicken with the newest and most delinquent recipes. Some of their most demanding items from the menu are burgers/loaders, fried chicken, mini burgers, grilled chicken, grilled paneer tikka, veg/chicken SnackJacks, cheese coins, shami kebabs and varieties of biryani bowls. At the moment, the brand has crossed 425 outlets in 19 cities all across the nation. The launching of Wow! Chicken in the Indian market is anticipated to value at more than ₹5,000 crores by the year 2025.
Sagar Daryani, the owner and founder of Wow! Chicken now aims to go head-to-head against the American competitor KFC. Its first physical outlet was launched on the 26th of January in Kolkata, and Sagar Daryani aspires to actively expand the business in all the major cities soon. He states, "Wow! Chicken having already launched in the home market of Kolkata, and the plan is to establish about 100 mid-sized Wow! Chicken outlets across cities in the next couple of years." According to Sagar Daryani, through the introduction of Wow! Chicken, the brand hope to deliver both delight and innovation through their exclusive recipes curated for the Indian customers, as he adds, "At Wow! Momo and Wow! China - we have realised that the only way to win the consumer's heart; is to make food fun."
At Wow! Chicken, foodies are expected to experience the taste of Fried and Grilled chicken combos at once instead of the regular and unchanging taste they experience at the KFC competitor and other outlets. The company assures that the Wow! Chickens are 100% healthy as well, as there is no MSG used for the preparation, the chicken skins are removed, and they do not add artificial flavours or colours to it. Thus, consumers need not worry about consequences and complications in health and relish the taste and rich flavour. As Sagar Daryani says, "To Great Health & Great Fun; Wow! Chicken Stands as a testimony".
The CEO of Wow! Momo Foods goes on to explain that India is a country that is predominantly engulfed with chicken consumers in the non-vegetarian community. And over the decades, he noticed that the method of preparing chicken has been constant and unchanging, which made it seem lifeless with no fun. Additionally, there was not a single competent competitor to go up against the mega fast-food chain, KFC. Those were the biggest drive for the company towards launching Wow! Chicken.
Wow! Chicken pledges to deliver an assorted combination of chicken menus in a spectrum of seasonings, and they eventually intend to broaden the lists shortly. “We will do different flavours of chicken, not just the basic crispy fried. We have come up with peri-peri, Americano. We also make tandoori chicken because that’s what really sells here. We will have chicken in both grilled and fried form,” asserts Daryani. While names like Americano and Peri-Peri are commonly seen and heard in KFC or other chicken outlets, Wow! Chicken envisions adding an Indian punch to it, to make it more Indianness and reach out to the taste buds and preferences of Indian citizens. Likewise, Wow Chicken offers other menu items like Momo, which is of Tibetan origin, with a touch of desi customization by marinating it with paneer and masalas and introducing the dish as Chicken Butter Masala Tandoori Momo. “We have always thrived on Indianising momos, Chinese (they have a brand called Wow! China) and now we are Indianising fried and grilled chicken both,” says Daryani.
When In Doubt, Grab a Wow! Chicken & Eat Your Stress Away!
When it comes to the pricing, Wow! Chicken still stands as a promising competitor against KFC, offering just ₹69 as the starting cost. They have burger or loader options for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian consumers. For vegetarian foodies, the burgers are loaded with paneer tikka, which is something that desi people can never hate! The brand is also working on launching plant-based Veg Chicken Nuggets that will be introduced soon to food lovers across the nation. The entire concept of this is to allow vegetarians to experience the similar taste buds of non-vegetarian foods.
Nevertheless, the pricing assessment of the Chicken menus cannot be compromised as expressed by Daryani. The price of Wow! Chicken as compared with KFC is no different and offers at similar prices. This is because the Indian brand stands its ground in serving premium quality foods and maintains the benchmark with KFC, or even higher. As claimed by Daryani, Wow! Chicken guarantees to deliver better quality and more flavourful chicken menus, which means there will be no inclusion of MSG or chicken skin on their products as "It is not a price war but a product war".
After selecting Kolkata as their first official outlet of the Wow! Chicken, the responses have been extremely receptive by the locals. Even in the case of the sale performance of the brand's outlet in Acropolis Mall, it hiked from ₹20,000 sales per day to a massive boost of ₹50,000 per day. The next metro cities where the brand is aiming to launch the outlet are Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. With regard to the plan, Sargar adds, “To begin with, we are looking largely at metro cities. The key is to carpet bomb the metro cities where our other brands Wow! Momo and Wow! China has already flourished.”
KFC Vs Wow! Chicken
After the establishment of Wow! Chicken in the Indian market, the brand has been causing quite a debate among the foodies, especially between the fan clubs of KFC and Wow! Chicken.
Wow! Chicken is new to the market and was introduced in 2021 by the founder and CEO of Wow! Momo Food, Sagar Daryani. The firm is one of the fastest expanding QSR food chains and is in head-to-head competition with KFC. But what makes the KFC product more valuable and worthy of your money? Well, to start off, Wow! Chicken is predominantly an imitation of KFC but with a touch of desi energy. While KFC is the original OG with their exclusive recipes, the latter focuses on serving its menus by combining American with Indian masalas to match the taste buds of the consumers. When it comes to the prices, KFC is no different from Wow! Chicken. However, it might be well noted that as per the experiences and feedback from the general consumers, nothing beats the taste of KFC chicken!
To compare the prices, KFC's Chicken Popcorn (L) is priced at ₹248, while Wow! Chicken's Large Popcorn is priced at ₹189. Further, KFC's Classic Chicken Biryani Bucket (1 serve) costs ₹229, which comes with 1 pc Hot & Crispy Chicken & a Spicy Gravy; and Wow! Chicken dupe Fried Chicken Classic Rice Bowl Meal (1 serve) costs ₹309, which includes 1 Fried Chicken Classic Rice Bowl and 1 Pepsi 250 Ml. Although there is a slight variation in the prices, we can't deny that the flavour of KFC foods just hits the home run. Use the KFC Wednesday Offer coupon to place your order!
Further Improvement in WOW! Chicken
Daryani, the CEO of the progressive enterprise also briefly insinuated that the brand has been considering introducing more by-product divisions and is receptive to acquisitions as well. Although the CEO did not further disclose and go into detail about the acquisitions and new launches, he implied that the company is not limited to its boundary in regard to the preferences and targets on a more comprehensive margin. For example, Pizza would be a feasible alternative to delve into. The enterprise has already entered the perimeter of FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods), also known as CPG (consumer packaged goods) with their frozen momos. Talking about the investments, Daryani revealed that the firm has been offered investment deals by multiple brands. In 2021, Wow! Momo Foods managed to raise over 15 Million USD administered under Tree Line Investment Management Limited, making them the most esteemed self-made QSR chain worth over ₹1225 Crore.
Wrap Up
At present day, the business has considerably expanded as corresponded to the times before the Covid Pandemic hit the economy and new markets was introduced. Sub-brands like Wow! China and Wow! Momo has expanded its footsteps in big cities like Chennai, Kerala, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru through online and offline store setups. During the Fiscal Year of 2023, the business projects to establish more outlets, with a considerable number of 200+ Wow! China and Wow! Momo stores. This will include smaller cities like Patna, Ahmedabad, and Guwahati. Out of the 200+ outlets, the firm plans to make at least 170 physical/offline outlets and the remaining as ghost/virtual kitchens.
