Not Just Marketing, The Marketing Cell
School of Business Management
NMIMS University, India
Jumboking: The Vada Pav Goes National
After pursuing his MBA degree, Mr. Dheeraj Gupta could have taken a high paying job or joined his family
business. Instead he, along with his wife Reeta, chose to start new ventures on his own and eventually set
up Mumbai’s largest vada pav chain, Jumboking (Refer Exhibit 1), which actually branded and sold
Mumbai’s favourite fast food, the vada pav.
Jumboking began its journey to brand the vada pav on 23rd August 2001. Inspired by western models and
applying it to Indian food, Jumboking believes that the common man has the constitutional right to get
hygienic food at an affordable price. Today, Jumboking has a team of people spanning the functional
areas of operations, business development, franchisee relations and marketing.
Understanding the Vada Pav: What makes it work?
Also referred to as the Indian Burger, a vada pav (Devnagari: वडा पाव) is essentially a batata vada served hot
inside a pav (bread) with savoury condiments called chutney (Refer Exhibit 2). A batata vada consists of
a deep-fried potato mash patty coated with chick pea flour. The vada is roughly spherical in shape around
two or three inches in diameter. The vada pav is one of the most popular fast food items in Mumbai and
Maharashtra. Initially considered to be a food item of the working class, the vada pav has been widely
accepted across all walks of life (Refer Exhibit 3) due to its taste, ease of preparation and the value of
money it typically offers. It is commonly sold at street-side joints as well as in restaurants.
The Business Model
Jumboking outlets are set up primarily on a franchising model which has been a success for the massbased food industry. An individual willing to set up an outlet must be willing to start the restaurant
business with an investment of a few lakh rupees and time of around 10 hours per day, 365 days a year.
The member becomes a part of the fast food franchise from the date of joining this business and derives
many benefits from the brand name, which has been trusted by the customers.
The case has been prepared by Not Just Marketing (NJM), The Marketing Cell, SBM, NMIMS University for the event NJM
Week 2012 on the basis of published sources and inputs from Jumboking Foods Pvt. Ltd. Copyright ©2012 NMIMS University
and Jumboking Foods Pvt. Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a
spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise –
without the prior permission of NMIMS University or Jumboking Foods Pvt. Ltd.
The USP
Contrary to vada pav sold by hawkers, the Jumboking vada pav is cooked in a state-of-the-art and hygienic
system (Refer Exhibit 4) at every outlet at a price which is slightly higher than its unbranded counterpart.
Considering the target market, i.e., youngsters and adults who are ‘on the move’, most outlets are
strategically located in busy areas like areas surrounding railway stations.
Jumboking Innovations
The vada pav served by Jumboking is different from the unbranded vada pav sold in local restaurants and
food joints. The bread used is a two-piece bread akin to the one used in burgers and the vada is flatter in
shape. New variants have been developed incorporating flavours from popular Indian and Chinese dishes.
Beverages like flavoured lassi are also sold in some outlets. Jumboking also provides combo meals in
association with Pepsi to provide a quick wholesome meal (Refer Exhibit 5).
Moving Beyond the Land of the Vada Pav
Jumboking currently has more than 50 stores, mostly in Mumbai and other towns in Maharashtra (Refer
Exhibit 6 and 7). Statistics say that around 1,50,000 vada pavs are sold in Mumbai. In October 2011,
Jumboking set its foot outside Maharashtra by setting up an outlet in Bengaluru (Refer Exhibit 8).
However, taking the concept of selling vada pavs outside the city of Mumbai is going to be a challenging
task.
Jumboking is looking for suggestions to answer the following core issues:

How do you transform the vada pav from the fast food of Mumbai to the fastfood of India?

How do you convince convince customers in other Indian cities to try out and regularly start
consuming the vada pav?

What additions or improvements can be made to the menu, if any, to make Jumboking relevant in
other cities keeping Jumboking’s USP in mind?
The participating team is free to choose any one of the following cities to present their analysis giving a
clear description of the business opportunities and patterns prevalent in that city
Bengaluru
Chennai
Delhi / NCR
Hyderabad
Kolkata
Ahmedabad
Jaipur
Lucknow
Nagpur
Nashik
Kochi
Coimbatore
Visakhapatnam
Bhubaneshvar
Bhopal
Guwahati
Varanasi
Ranchi
Raipur
Jamshedpur
Dehradun
Kanpur
Indore
Patna
Pune
Surat
Vadodara
Ludhiana
Thiruvananthapuram
Chandigarh
Exhibit 1 Dheeraj Gupta with wife Reeta at a Jumboking outlet
Source: www.growthinstitute.in
Exhibit 2 Celebrities from the world of entertainment and sport have been regularly associated with Jumboking
Exhibit 3 Typical Vada pav served with chillies and chutney and the Jumbo King Vada Pav
Exhibit 4 Kitchen in a typical Jumboking outlet
Source: www.burrp.com
Exhibit 5 Jumboking Menu and Pricing
Source: www.zomato.com
Exhibit 6 Timeline of Jumboking
August 2001
First Outlet was opened
August 2003
2 outlets existed
August 2004
Jumboking reached a figure of 6 outlets
August 2005
15 outlets were operational
August 2006
Target for at least 30+ outlets
March 2007
Award for New Concept Franchising
March 2007
Award for Innovative Franchisee Model
February 2010
Jumboking sold its seven croreth vada pav
November 2011
Jumboking sold its nine croreth vada pav
Source: Jumboking Official Website
Exhibit 7 The Vada Pav Meter showing the vada pavs served by Jumboking till date
Exhibit 8 Jumboking’s newly opened outlet in Bengaluru