SOCIAL reaches 60 stores nationwide with its first Mohali opening — a model for making one restaurant a neighborhood hub around the clock

Urban café-bar "SOCIAL" opened a new location in September 2026 at HLP Gallerria in Mohali, Punjab, bringing its nationwide count to 60 stores. Mohali marks the brand's first opening in that city, and its third overall in Punjab following two existing locations in Chandigarh. It is operated by Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality. A design that lets one restaurant switch uses by time of day — from daytime coffee, to meals, to a drink after work, through to late night — offers material for Japanese companies building food and beverage venues in India to think about "how far can one restaurant earn."

The news: with its Mohali opening, SOCIAL reaches 60 stores nationwide, thickening the tricity area

According to reports, SOCIAL has opened at HLP Gallerria in Mohali, marking its 60th store nationwide. Mohali is a first for the brand in that city and its third overall in Punjab, following two existing locations in Chandigarh, a move to thicken the presence across the "tricity" made up of Chandigarh, Mohali, and Panchkula. The store design was handled by Mumbai's FK'D Workshop, incorporating a multi-tiered structure reminiscent of an amphitheater, an island-style bar counter, private rooms, and an outdoor wooden-deck balcony.

Background: demand for a "third place" usable all day long

In urban India, customers gather more at venues usable as a single hangout from morning to late night than at places split by use — coffee-only, or alcohol-only. SOCIAL is a leading example of this, turning the same floor space into different earners by time of day: café and workspace by day, bar and socializing venue from evening on. In metro areas like around Chandigarh, with many students and young working professionals, this all-day design pushes up both turnover and average spend per customer.

A store design that "changes what it earns by time of day"

The core of SOCIAL is running one restaurant with a different face depending on the time of day. The menu ranges widely, from meals such as China boxes, butter chicken biryani, and loaded nachos, to its signature cocktails and coffee, and it even carries a regionally flavored drink named after Punjab, "Banarasi Patiala." It layers on music and cultural events and programming that showcases local talent, adding reasons to visit beyond food.

• Reuses the same floor as a café and workspace by day and a bar and socializing venue by night
• Bundles food, cocktails, and coffee into one restaurant to extend dwell time
• Creates reasons to visit beyond food through music and cultural events

How it is being received locally and in the industry

Within the scope of reporting, SOCIAL is said to have designed this restaurant with "a coffee stop, meals, after-work gatherings, and late-night dining" all in mind. The specific investment amount and average spend per customer have not been disclosed. Here we stick to the reported facts — "60 stores nationwide," "Mohali is the brand's first in the state, its third in the tricity" — without adding speculation about visitor numbers or the like.

Implications for Japanese companies: design one restaurant by "splitting it by time of day"

When Japanese food and beverage brands run their own directly operated stores in India, a design that lets the same restaurant be used almost like two different places by day and night becomes a way to maximize earnings from limited floor space. A move to strike at the gap in the nighttime experience market is shown by Mumbai's sound-and-food bar High Note, and the practice of converting a daytime café into a nighttime bar is put into practice by Conçu in Colaba. On the Japanese side, allocating the menu into three time slots — day, evening, and night — and deciding in advance which slot to insert a distinctly Japanese item into makes it easier to organize local operations.

Market ripple effects: store openings that turn regional cities into a "data network"

A move to blanket a metro area like the tricity is not simply about adding stores — it is also about building a base network for reading regional demand. The idea of turning regional cities into a network of store-opening data connects to how Snitch expanded into Punjab's Ludhiana, and a design that raises density at the metro-area level serves as a foundation for Japanese brands thinking about which city to start blanketing from.

Practical information and related links

• A Mumbai bar concept that strikes at the gap in the nighttime experience market
• A Colaba location that converted a daytime café into a nighttime bar
• Wow! Momo's area rollout, adding 80 stores in 4 months

Summary: allocate the menu into three time slots — day, evening, and night

SOCIAL's Mohali opening is one example of the model of splitting a restaurant by time of day to build up to 60 stores nationwide. The move Japanese brands considering directly operated stores in India can make right now is to divide the menu into three slots — day, evening, and night — and settle on the main item for each, plus one slot to insert something distinctly Japanese. Fixing the time-of-day design first makes earnings per square foot of floor space easier to predict.

Sources

• Restaurant India"SOCIAL hits 60 outlets with new Mohali launch, expands tricity footprint"