THE QSR STORY IS NO LONGER JUST ABOUT OPENING STORES

For years, the simple QSR growth story was: open more restaurants, serve more customers, grow revenue. But the latest numbers tell a different story. Jubilant FoodWorks offers an interesting case study.

Its Q1 FY27 standalone revenue rose 9.2% YoY to ₹1,849 crore, while Domino’s India contributed roughly 95% of that revenue. The company also expanded to 2,513 stores. But here is the important lesson: Store growth alone does not tell us whether the underlying business is becoming stronger. Domino’s like-for-like sales growth improved to 2.5%, compared with just 0.2% in the previous quarter. Order volumes increased 6.5% YoY. Delivery remains a major growth engine, with delivery revenue growing 12.1%. However, delivery also carries higher costs through delivery operations, discounts and other expenses. So Jubilant is also working on its physical stores, upgrading around 400 Domino’s outlets to improve service, throughput and customer experience. Then comes Popeyes. Revenue almost doubled, like-for-like growth remained above 40% for the third consecutive quarter, and the brand reached 88 stores. This could eventually become another growth engine, although it remains much smaller than Domino’s. The bigger analytical question is therefore: Can Jubilant convert order growth, store expansion and new-brand growth into sustainable same-store growth and stronger margins? That is the kind of question investors should study not simply whether the company opened more stores. Revenue growth can hide weak stores; always examine same-store sales, order volumes, margins, channel economics and brand-level performance together.