Planet Hollywood, famous for providing dine-in experiences along with some of Hollywood's biggest stars, has zeroed in on India and will be investing close to $15 million to set up five restaurants by 2010.
For its foray in the Indian market, Planet Hollywood has signed a master franchisee agreement with the US-based Arch Millennium Corp., promoted by Indian-origin businessmen.
"We plan to open one restaurant each in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Goa and Hyderabad," Arch Millennium president and chief executive officer Siddharth Mobar told reporters in New Delhi.
Mobar said that it takes approximately $2.5-3 million for developing a restaurant, and added that the first one would come up in Mumbai early next year.
In line with the restaurant's name, it would also be bringing in famous film stars and personalities from the West to promote the restaurants, apart from selling Hollywood-related merchandise.
"We would be bringing in big stars like Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone in India as part of our promotional activities, while also trying to get other ones like Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake," Mobar said.
The company, which has many of the dishes named on Hollywood stars, plans to add the local Indian flavour by roping in some of Bollywood's stars in the coming time.
"Yes, certainly, it is something which is on our mind," Mobar said, when asked whether the company planned to involve stars from the Indian film industry as well.
Some of the unique dishes which will be on offer include 'Chicken Crunch' based on Hollywood lady Demi Moore's recipe and 'Banana Strudle' on the recipe of action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger's mother.
"We will also be displaying and selling Hollywood movie merchandise," he said, adding that this contributed about 10 per cent to revenue of each restaurant worldwide.
Each Planet Hollywood restaurant houses memorabilia from movies, old and new. The interior decor reflects various movie genre, including action, horror and sci-fi and the audio-visual system plays the latest movie trailers, clips, music videos and celebrity visits.
As per the company's plans, a guest in Planet Hollywood India restaurant will be able to see what is happening in other restaurant locations such as New York, Las Vegas, Orlando, London and Paris.
Planet Hollywood Founder and chairman Robert Earl said there was a huge potential in the Indian market for their brand. "This franchisee agreement will bring the excitement of Hollywood and combine it with the power of Bollywood in a very special way," he said in a statement.
Overall, there are 28 Planet Hollywood restaurants in locations like the United States, Paris, London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Beijing.
