India's Wow Momo takes cues from Domino's for IPO in two years

By Praveen Paramasivam

CHENNAI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Indian fast-food chain Wow Momo Foods plans to go public within two years, its CEO said, as the popular dumpling brand aims to replicate the rapid expansion of Domino's Pizza in the world's most populous country.

India's $5 billion fast-food sector has seen significant growth, driven by rising demand among low- and middle-income families.

Valued at 25 billion rupees ($299.33 million) with a network of 650 stores, Wow Momo plans to become the first major local fast-food chain to go public, riding on this shift in consumer behavior.

Tiger Global-backed Wow Momo, which reported revenue of nearly 4.8 billion rupees ($57.47 million) for the fiscal year ending in March, is aiming to double its revenue to 10 billion rupees over the next 30 months, co-founder and CEO Sagar Daryani told Reuters late on Tuesday.

"The public markets are really, really growing ... One homegrown fast-food chain IPO in India will change the script for fast-food play (in the country)," Daryani said.

India's booming stock market has hit record highs over 50 times this year, with nearly 200 companies, including e-scooter maker Ola Electric and telecom operator Bharti Hexacom , raising billions.

In the restaurant sector, franchisees of Western brands like KFC, McDonald's , Burger King, and Domino's have gone public in the past decade. One of the most recent local listing was of Barbeque-Nation Hospitality , which went public three years ago.

Shares of Bengaluru, Karnataka-based Barbeque-Nation have climbed nearly 28% from their IPO price despite seeing some challenges with footfalls among inflation-weary consumers.

Daryani said he plans to replicate Jubilant FoodWorks

's success, which has expanded Domino's from a single store in India in 1996 to over 1,800 outlets.

Wow Momo, which offers savory dumplings priced between 109-369 rupees ($1.31-$4.42) per serving, plans to increase its store count to 1,000 and become profitable on the basis of a core earnings metric within two years.

While the company experienced a dip in same-store sales from October to May, mirroring a broader slowdown in the Indian fast-food space, sales have recovered, turning positive from June to September, Daryani added.

($1 = 83.5200 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

((Praveen.Paramasivam@thomsonreuters.com; +91 867-525-3569;))