Haldiram's Goes to a Regional City in Uttar Pradesh, and the Answer for a First Store Is Not "Metro"

In July 2026, Haldiram's, India's largest snack and restaurant company, announced it would open new outlets in Lucknow and Gorakhpur, both in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The significance of this announcement lies in the fact that it named a state capital and a pilgrimage city in the regions, not a major metro like Delhi or Mumbai. The rollout was staged so that a teaser campaign, "Acche Din Aane Wale Hai!" (good days are coming), ran first in these two cities to build anticipation, before the store openings were revealed. For Japanese food and restaurant brands weighing "where to place their first store" in the Indian market, a decision from the market leader is not something to ignore.

The two cities Haldiram's named

The two cities covered by this announcement are UP's state capital Lucknow and Gorakhpur, a religious and transportation hub in the state's east. Rajiv Singh, Head of Growth & Marketing for Haldiram's QSR division, said, "Decades of history have become the foundation for spreading even further, beyond the metros, into emerging markets. The cities that experienced the campaign first went on to become the core of our store-opening plan." The distinctive feature is that the order is reversed: test a city's response with advertising first, then place a store where the response is strong.

Haldiram's is known as a maker of sweets and snacks, but in recent years it has been rapidly expanding a restaurant business that combines dine-in restaurants with QSR (quick-service). This latest move in Lucknow and Gorakhpur is part of that push, and the outlets are described as offering a dining experience rather than being simple retail stores.

Why is the market leader leapfrogging the metros?

Behind this is a structure in which demand for organized restaurant brands is growing in regional cities (Tier 2 and Tier 3). Prime locations in major cities carry high rent and are already crowded with competing brands. In state-capital-class regional cities, on the other hand, a middle class with rising disposable income is gathering, yet there are still few "proper" stores from well-known chains. Because Haldiram's can bring its nationwide brand recognition in as-is, it can become a first mover in this white space.

The company has disclosed plans to open more than 100 stores across three states — UP, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat — within 2026, going well beyond these two cities. The speed of opening stores to seize regional cities as a solid area all at once is exactly the weapon a company of this scale wields.

Haldiram's position, by the numbers

Here are the supporting figures worth noting. Yen conversions are rough estimates using 1 rupee ≈ 1.8 yen as a guide, and will vary with exchange rates.

Conversion needs care here. "Crore," a unit that appears often in India, means 10 million, so 2,000 crore equals 20 billion rupees. Misreading a single digit throws the figure off by a factor of 10, so this is always worth double-checking when reading local material. On the company valuation: when Singapore's state-backed fund Temasek acquired about 10% in March 2025, the company was valued at roughly $10 billion. Holding roughly 40% of the organized snack market, it is a genuinely national brand.

How locals and the industry see it

People in the restaurant industry note that as QSR sales in big cities struggle to grow, the room for growth is shifting to regional cities. One industry source points out that major players with established brand recognition can fight from a position of advantage in the regions. On the other hand, there is a cautious view that regional consumers are price-sensitive and have strongly local taste preferences, so neglecting to adapt the menu and portions locally could backfire. On social media, users who appear to be based in Lucknow reacted with comments like "welcome more proper restaurants in the city," while others took a cooler view, saying "in the end it comes down to taste and price." Having built up expectations first with the teaser campaign, the question is whether the actual store experience can live up to it.

Implications for how Japanese brands choose their first location

Here is the crux of it. Japanese food and restaurant brands considering entering India tend to think of the first location as a choice between "Delhi or Mumbai," but the fact that even the market leader has leapfrogged the metros to choose a regional city carries weight. If the implication is narrowed to one point, it is this: identify first the city where your own brand "can become a first mover," and launch advertising and your first store there at the same time— that is the order. Japanese brands that lack Haldiram's-style nationwide recognition may find it hard to jump straight into a gap in a regional city, but conversely, the work of figuring out "which city has thin competition and also has the customers you're targeting" is exactly what a first-store strategy needs to consist of.

This move of "targeting regional cities from the start" is happening simultaneously at multiple companies right now. A baby products brand climbing from Kerala into regional cities of North India and apparel brand Snitch's technique of turning stores in regional cities into a data-collection network are both variations on the same idea of "capturing the regions as a solid area." Even in the quick-delivery sector, dark stores in the regions turn a profit at lower order volumes than big cities This structure has come to light, and regional cities are shifting from being a "market to save for later" into a "market to capture first."

Ripple effects across the market

When a category leader like Haldiram's commits seriously to regional cities, it raises the bar for the store-opening standards of brands that follow. Prime locations in regional cities fill up on a first-come basis, so while a brand waits and watches, thinking "it's still too early," the risk grows that a nationally recognized brand will grab the location first. For Japanese brands, thinking in stages — finish the big cities first, then move to the regions — risks falling behind. Instead, working backward from a small success story built first in a regional city, then expanding outward from that point, may well become the standard approach going forward.

Practical notes: what to check when targeting a regional city

• Does the city have a commercial location where your target customers — a middle class with disposable income — actually gather?
• Are competing nationwide brands absent or only thinly present?
• Do you have a setup that can adjust taste, portions, and price to local preferences?
• If advertising builds expectations, can the actual store experience live up to them?

Choosing a local partner or franchisee also requires local ties and market knowledge different from what's needed in big cities. Winning over the regions can't be forced through brand strength alone — it only works paired with a design for localization.

Summary: the next move

What Haldiram's Lucknow and Gorakhpur openings show is that the assumption "first store equals a big city" is starting to break down. The next actions for Japanese brands considering India entry come down to three. First, use data to identify the regional cities where you can become a first mover. Second, link marketing and store development so that advertising and your first opening can launch in that city at the same time. Third, lock in a localized menu and price design that can absorb regional differences in taste before opening. Rather than getting stuck on "Delhi or Mumbai," working backward from the question of which city is the optimal place for your own first store is the winning approach in today's Indian market.

Sources

• Restaurant India: Haldiram's to Open New Outlets in Lucknow and Gorakhpur
• Medianews4u: Haldiram's reveals 'Acche Din Aane Wale Hai!' campaign
• Outlook Business: What Haldiram's $10 Billion Valuation Says About the Indian Snack Market