Daryaganj Restaurants opens flagship outlet in Bangkok

THAILAND – North Indian restaurant chain Daryaganj Restaurants has revealed plans to open its first restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand in January 2025 as part of its global expansion strategy.

The new Bangkok chain is a franchise partnership with Park Royal, the chain’s joint venture partner in Thailand.

The location will feature two separate menus. The first will offer classic dishes from their North Indian locations. The second menu will feature Thai-inspired meals.

This dual menu option is meant to appeal to local tastes and preferences, while at the same time maintaining the authentic identity of its Indian culinary offerings.

Daryaganj Restaurants revealed Park Royal as selected because of their shared commitment to quality and their understanding of the chain’s business model.

According to co-founder and CEO Amit Bagga, the chain initially did not intend to expand beyond North India.

However, numerous inquiries from potential franchise partners elicited interest, eventually inspiring the decision to expand to locations beyond India.

Amit Bagga said, “We have had 150-odd queries from India and another 25 to 30 from international locations. And we (kept) saying no when it comes to international locations.”

“Bangkok had 22 million tourists visiting it last year – that was more than many European cities – and a large number are from India, which made it an automatic choice to open a Daryaganj outlet there.”

The restaurant chain reiterated the inquiries were an important eye-opener. Daryaganj Restaurants revealed plans to open at least 13 new outlets across India before the year ends, which it describes as an appropriate lead-up to the Bangkok location’s opening.

These new locations will mostly be in Southern India, which highlights the company’s objective of consolidating its presence in major Indian cities as a response to the surprise popularity of the chain and franchiser interest.

The new locations were announced amidst an ongoing legal battle with Moti Mahal, a rival Indian restaurant chain over two recipes- Butter Chicken and Dal Makhani.

Moti Mahal has accused Daryaganj of falsely advertising itself as the inventor of the popular dishes on its official website.

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