Idli, Dosa and a lot of hype!

Finally, took time out to visit the much hyped Rameshwaram Cafe during my latest trip to Bangalore. 

As an ardent foodie, a student of Retail for 27 years and an avid observer of consumer behaviour, I wonder what are they doing so differently for all the hype around. 

It was 8.30pm when I visited the outlet at JP Nagar, one of the busiest neighbourhoods of namma Bengaluru. The place was quite crowded with over 50% non-Kannadigas.

The food I had - button Idli and benne (butter) Dose (Dosa is pronounced that way in typical Kannada!) was normal, usual and as tasty as any other similar eating joint in Bengaluru. 

There were just too many staff in the preparation area - perhaps each part of the making process had arms. 

This leads to a higher cost of operation, but is perhaps recovered with high prices of the menu items! 

Finally, I too lived the hype. Been there, done that. Tick mark on my bucket list.  

But why has the restaurant, now with a few branches and also on a franchise mode garnered so much PR & free publicity? 

I truly didn’t find anything so remarkable in their offering that makes them stand out. Perhaps the name. Perhaps the way they have positioned. 

Possibly, the speed of delivery (my dosa took more time than it would take otherwise in a similar outlet). Am still wondering the what and why of the PR outreach the cafe garnered. 

Here’s wishing them a good run and a great future.

GoV, GMV and Profitability

In a recent post on this platform, one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs Aadit Palicha cribbed how a competitor employee was maligning Zepto - his company’s reputation to potential investors.

For those who may have missed, Zepto is currently raising secondary investment ahead of their much touted IPO.

During their last funding round in 2024, the company was valued at USD 3.5 Bn, perhaps the first ecommerce platfiorm and the fastest to reach such sky high valuations.

In that post, he also shared several details, according to this article which breaks it down.

He says the monthly GoV including Ad-revenues and sales of Fruits and Vegetables in currently INR 2,400 Cr.

Say, INR 300 Cr comes from advertising revenues pm.

Then, it is about INR 70 Cr per day and with an estimated 700 dark stores, that’s 10 lakh per location every single day. Top Hypermarkets in India do not report such daily sales numbers! But Zepto does. Investor money, after all.

With a bill value of INR 350, that’s 2,000 daily transactions. A delivery boy makes around 60 deliveries day and earns up to INR 30 per order. 

Let’s assume Zepto makes a Gross Margin of 20% on each order. That’s INR 70, of which they pay almost half to the driver (which includes fuel cost). 

With the balance, will the dark store, including corporate costs ever be profitable? If so, then every kirana store in this country would have been a rupee millionaire at best. Reality is different. 

I really wish Zepto good luck in their endeavours but will they ever be PAT positive?

Job Openings - Miles2Go Retail

As the new Financial Year began on 1 Apr. ‘25, we set-out a clear path of action to accomplish our goals over the next 60 months. 

We are charging ahead with a single Vision - to become the first Management Consulting Firm in India to file an Initial Public Offering - IPO by 2030.

Quite ambitious, some said. Stupid, a few quipped - on my face and behind. Never mind.

“A dream is not what you get in your sleep, rather one that doesn’t let you to sleep” - famous quote by my mentor, Late Shri APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India. 

So, I decided to go ahead and dream, and work it off to accomplish what I have set out to, with the support of our esteemed Clients who have reposed faith in us since 2014, when I first began Miles2Go Consulting Services.

As a beginning, we launched our revamped website on 14 Apr. ‘25, when the new Solar calendar began and the Sun began its journey in a new direction, in a new phase, just like us!

We have also launched our exclusive offering KAVACCH™ which we believe would be of great use to our Clients. Checkout our website to know more about our focussed approach. Visit www.MilestoGo.in to know more. 

Incidentally, we have already started putting things together for our ongoing Client engagements.

We have immediate opportunity for pursuing and completed Graduates and Post Graduates. Calling Boys & Girls in Chennai & Bangalore. 

We are offering a plethora of roles in the following areas of work - 

• Offline Retail
• ECommerce 
• Quick Commerce
• Omni-Channel Retail
• Travel & Tourism
• Data Analytics 
• Retail Technology 

We are currently catering to Clients in the following Industries, while more are in the pipeline -

• Fashion Retail
• FMCG - Organic Food 
• FMCG - New Product Development
• Tea, Coffee & Cafes
• EV Retail & related areas
• Furniture & Lifestyle

Salary range starts from INR 3-4 Lpa + incentives for freshers and those without any formal experience in the Retail Industry. For those who carry 2-4 years experience, expect salary ranges upwards INR 7 Lpa. 

For those with over 10 years’ experience, we have roles which offer over INR 15-25 Lpa. Needless to say, salary levels would only go up as one’s experience reflects.

We have also opened up ‘Recruitment’ as a business service from this FY. 

Currently we are recruiting for various roles across clients in FMCG, QSR, Lifestyle products, Apparel & Fashion. These jobs will soon be posted on our Linkedin Page.

If you know someone who might fit our requirements, then please ask them to send their resumes to Shri@MilesToGo.in

We have just begun. Miles To Go…

S. Shriram

CEO - Miles2Go Consulting Services

Based in Chennai, catering world over!