The Taj group of hotels is planning to tap the retail market for branded food and beverage products as well as set up cafes at plazas, shopping malls, and department stores. The group is using its airline catering infrastructure for this.

A small beginning by Taj has already been made it by setting up cafes called Caf West at the Westside chain of stores -- a new chain of department stores set up by Trent, formerly Lakme. Besides this, the group is also considering institutional catering.

The group is planning to launch its branded products in retail markets in major cities and towns where its flight kitchens are located. The Taj group currently has flight kitchens in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Other units are planned for Bangalore and Hyderabad.

According to M S Kapadia, vice-president, Taj Air Caterers, the aim of the company is to treble its sales turnover over the next five years. It is working towards increasing the share of its non-airline catering business to more than 50 per cent of the total revenues earned by the division.

According to Mr Kapadia, airline catering is a low-margin and high-volume business. As flight kitchens are capital-intensive in nature, returns on investments are also slow. The expansion of its non-airline catering outlets will thus help the division improve margins, and possibly give it greater flexibility and muscle in the airline catering business.

"We aim to become a brand that represents value for airline passengers and retail customers," Mr Kapadia says.

In consumer retail, the Taj group has a tie-up with Birdy’s, a chain of pastry shops in Mumbai sporting the Taj brand name. Sources at Taj say that the group is not interested in continuing with the venture.