Jayaram Banan Buys Back Sagar Ratna

JAYARAM BANAN, the man who founded the iconic Sagar Ratna restaurant chain way back in 1986 in the NCR, always had some regret of selling the chain to a Private Equity player in 2011 for around Rs 175 crores. That regret was reversed and Banan was overcome with emotion at a press conference as he and his management team, led by son Roshan, announced the buyback of the entire 77 percent stake which had been sold. The group were unwilling to share numbers as far as the value of the deal was concerned. 

“My most cherished dream of acquiring the Kohinoor of my life, namely Sagar Ratna has come true. I do not have words to express my gratitude to God, who made this almost impossible dream to be realised through the many difficulties. I have found my lost child,” the Chairman, Ocean Pearl Hotels Pvt. Ltdhe told a media gathering.

There has been significant increase in the number of restaurants from around 49 the time when the majority stake was sold, to 95 plus right now. The target according to the company was to have a hundred more in the next couple of years.

Jayaram Banan told us that he was looking to open two new outlets every month.

His words of enthusiasm were echoed by his son, Roshan Banan, Managing Director, Ocean Pearl Hotels Pvt. Ltdbegan by explaining, “This is a momentous occasion for us. Mr (Jayaram) Banan divested a majority stake in 2011, since then Sagar Ratna has grown and Mr Banan has grown individually apart from Sagar Ratna, in terms of Ocean Pearl Hotels, which is our hotel brand. We also have a canteen business which looks at industrial canteens in and around the NCR. The latest growth for us has been in terms of Ocean Pearl expanding from one hotel to two hotels with two more in the pipeline in South India, that too in just two years”.

Last week, the company was successful in acquiring back the 100 percent stake in Sagar Ratna and the intentions were to expand aggressively not only in the north of India but also in the south, which the company sees as the next growth area for the Sagar Ratna brand, Roshan Banan said.

“We are also going to move into the FMCG market under the banner of Sagar Ratna, enter the namkeen business as well as the kids snack business, which we are doing on a small scale at the moment,” he added.

“Our vision for the group is to be one of the biggest food and beverage operators in India. We don't want to leave any sector, be it hotels, be it industrial catering, FMCG, flight catering or the restaurants space. Our target is to move into every sector related to F&B. We hope to achieve that under the guidance of Mr (Jayaram) Banan in the next five to seven years,” Roshan Banan said.