Gourmet retail chain Food Square lines up expansion plans

MAYANK GUPTA and Lalit Jhawar, both 35 and founders of gourmet retail chain Food Square, love talking to teenagers and young adults when deciding on the assortment for their stores.

- VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO

"Gen Zers are the most aware in terms of trends in food and fashion today thanks to social media. They influence their family members as well as others in a big way. It is hard to escape them and also much to learn from them," Gupta says.

This simple insight is helping the young founders, Gupta an IIT Bombay graduate and Jhawar from Kingston University in UK, to fill the space vacated by Foodhall, the gourmet retail chain started by Kishore Biyani's daughters in 2011. Foodhall closed in 2023 after debt-laden Future Retail was dragged to the National Company Law Tribunal by lenders.

Ironically, Food Square's 25,000-sq ft Santacruz store, launched in November 2023, was earlier occupied by Foodhall. Gupta admits that he and his partner have big shoes to fill, since the comparison with its predecessor is inevitable. Almost 90-95% of Food Square's products are imported and around 5-10% are sourced from Indian suppliers. Food Square's second store is located in Worli.