South Indian restaurant chain ChennaiDosa to open 11th site

By Peter Ruddick

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags India

ChennaiDosa was formed in 2002 and now has ten restaurants nationwide with an 11th due to open in Manchester
ChennaiDosa was formed in 2002 and now has ten restaurants nationwide with an 11th due to open in Manchester
ChennaiDosa, a successful South Indian restaurant chain with 10 sites across the UK, is set to open a new site in Manchester's Stretford Mall with at least two further openings planned for this year.

The chain, which started as a small company in East Ham in late 2002, currently operates seven restaurants in London as well as sites in Reading, Birmingham and Leicester with future openings planned in Slough and Cardiff.

The Manchester site, over two floors in its Trafford location, will serve 125 diners, while the majority of the other sites in the group are all over 100 covers.

Dosa pancake

ChennaiDosa is named after the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the dosa pancake from the same region. Speaking to BigHospitality, Suresh Basker, one of the founders of the company and general manager, said the South Indian style of cooking was actually under-represented in the UK and is very different to the Indian cuisine commonly available in the UK.

"In 2002 when we started this company there was no restaurants of our kind in the whole of the UK. We brought a radical change opening this particular restaurant and this kind of food in East London so that is the thing which has created a very big demand," he said.

Although originally designed as a restaurant for South Indians, Basker said 40 per cent of the custom came from diners not familiar with the style of cooking.

Expansion

The successful expansion of the concept across the UK to more than 10 sites in as many years plus plans to expand into Europe and India leaves ChennaiDosa unrivalled, claims Basker.

"We are the number one chain of South Indian restaurants in the whole of the UK, maybe the whole of Europe. I don't think any South Indian restaurant group has got such a large expansion of branches all over Europe," he said.

ChennaiDosa will open in Manchester in the first week of March.

Related news

Show more

Follow us

Hospitality Guides

View more

Generation Next