Chennai based Ubiquitous Foods raises its first round of funding from Kalaari Capital

Chennai based Ubiquitous Foods, best known for its bakery retail chain, Oven Fresh, has raised its first institutional round from Kalaari Capital. The size of the investment is unknown and Rajesh Raju from Kalaari Capital is on their board.

The company was founded in 2008 and had bootstrapped until now. There are 10 Oven Fresh outlets in Chennai -- "The idea was to create a home-grown Indian QSR chain. We chose bakery foods as opposed to regional foods because it is common across geographies and the consumption story so far has been good," said Rajiv Subramanian, founder, Ubiquitous Foods.

With this investment, the company is looking to expand its operations to Bangalore. Its first outlet will be launched in ITPL, White Field, Bangalore. Rajiv said, "We will be opening our first outlet in Bangalore by July. Apart from this, we are opening a commissary in Bangalore as well. This is because the foods are baked in the shops itself; each of our outlets have an oven. "

Prior to starting up, Rajiv was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers -- "I had worked in

investment banking for about a year when I quit and I basically took my year-end bonus and put it into this business." Rajiv shared that the inspiration for a bakery came from his mother. He said, "My mother used to run a small bakery unit from the back of our house and I was a part-time employee there. A lot of people ask me how I jumped from banking to baking and the reason is that it was a business that I was familiar with."Rajiv's vision for the company is to "build a high quality retail brand that we can be proud of." In the effort of delivering a world-class retail experience to his customers, Rajiv is mindful of the price sensitive Indian. He says, "Some places do provide a great retail experience, but it comes at a high price. I believe we can provide a world-class retail experience at a reasonable price and that has been the focus so far."

Stay tuned as we bring you the complete Oven Fresh story.