Wow Momo follows Domino’s Footsteps; plans IPO in two years

India IPO

Updated Sep 26, 2024

With mega IPOs upcoming launch from major players like Swiggy and Hyundai, 2024 is going to be India’s record-breaking IPO year. It will bring exciting opportunities for investors.

Wow Momo follows Domino’s Footsteps; plans IPO in two years

Wow, Momo Foods, following the footsteps of Dominos, plans IPO in the next two years, as per the CEO. Currently valued at $299.33 million, the fast food chain seeks to double its $120 million revenue, thereby increasing the store count to reach 1000 amidst increased demand in the sector.

India’s $5 billion fast-food sector has seen some significant growth. It is driven by the increased demand among middle and low-income families. The chain currently has a network of 650 stores. It plans to become 1st major local chain for fast food to go public, seeing the shift in consumer behavior.

Wow, Momo, backed by Tiger Global, reported INR 4.8 billion ($57.47 million) in the fiscal year ending March. The company is now planning to double its revenue to 10 billion in the next 30 months, according to Sagar Daryani, co-founder and CEO of Wow Momos, to Reuters. He added, "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)."

The booming stock market of India in the current year has hit a record high over 50 times with approx. 200 companies, including Bharti Hexacom and Ola Electric, raising billions. Within the restaurant sector, franchisees of some Western brands, including McDonald’s, Domino’s, KFC, and Burger King, have gone public. Barbeque-Nation Hospitality has been one recent local listing. It went public 3 years ago, and the IPO price of it climbed 28% approx., despite challenges that came in with the footfalls amidst the inflation-weary consumers.

As per Daryani, he plans to replicate the success of Jubilant FoodWorks’s that expanded Dominos from a store in 1996 to its 1800 outlets. Wow, Momo, the chain offering savory dumplings, plans to increase the store count and become profitable in terms of its core earnings metric in 2 years.

Now, while the company experienced a same-store sales dip between October and May recently, due to the broader slowdown within India's fast-food space, the sales of Wow Momo have improved significantly. It turned positive (June-September), as per Daryani. Hopefully, it will continue to remain so, ahead too.