Theobroma buyout spurs ChrysCapital’s $200 mn foray into India’s desserts market
The development comes after the private equity firm mopped up an 85% stake in the desserts chain last month, marking its first buyout in the consumer sector.
Mumbai: India-focused private equity firm ChrysCapital is sweetening its portfolio with a $200-million push into the desserts space, following last month’s acquisition of patisserie chain Theobroma, two people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
“The idea is to use Theobroma as an anchor to make bolt-on acquisitions in the segment, and the investment firm plans to buy about 2-3 assets," the first person said, adding that frozen desserts and ice cream brands will also be considered.
“The plan is to leverage the back-end operations that Theobroma has for the other brands as well," the second person said.
A bolt-on strategy enables larger firms to buy smaller businesses to expand operations, diversify offerings, or reach new markets.
The development comes after the private equity firm bought an 85% stake in the desserts chain last month. It is the first transaction in the consumer foods space for ChrysCapital, which has traditionally focused on sectors such as pharmaceuticals, healthcare and financial services. To be sure, ChrysCapital is not strictly a buyout firm—so far, it has stuck mostly to buying smaller stakes or coinvesting with other firms.
The Theobroma deal reportedly valued the Mumbai-based quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain at ₹2,400 crore, Mint reported in August.
With the founders owning the remaining 15%, ChrysCapital highlighted that it has no plans of drastically changing how the patisserie chain operates, given that it believes that Theobroma is at the centre of the Western desserts opportunity in India, according to the Mint report.
ChrysCapital declined to comment on its bolt-on plans, while Theobroma did not immediately respond to Mint’s requests for comment sent on Friday.
War chest ready
Armed with a new $2.2-billion fund that it raised earlier this year, ChrysCapital is scouting for assets in India where it can write larger cheques and build a bigger portfolio.
“QSR is a space we have tracked closely, and there are enough examples in India and around the world where firms have made money," Rajiv Batra, director and consumer sector lead at ChrysCapital, told Mint in August.
“There’s also a noticeable shift from Indian desserts to Western desserts, so we were looking for opportunities, keeping in mind this macro trend," he had said.
The Theobroma story
Founded in 2004 by sisters Kainaz Messman Harchandrai and Tina Messman Wykes, Theobroma has grown from a single Colaba café into a pan-India Western desserts platform, operating nearly 250-plus company-owned outlets across 45 cities.
Known for its brownies, cakes, and patisserie, Theobroma has created a mass premium positioning in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) segment.
The patisserie operates central kitchens at key locations that cater to its outlets. According to estimates from credit rating agency Crisil, its revenues have grown over 4.5 times to about ₹575 crore in the five fiscal years through 2025, driven by the addition of outlets, expansion of product offerings and increased online sales.
However, a June report by Crisil noted that Theobroma remains exposed to high competition from organized and unorganized players, and this limits its pricing power in existing areas as well as the newer cities it plans to enter.
Market momentum
According to estimates from strategy consulting firm Redseer, India’s food services market was valued at $80 billion in 2024, and is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10-11% through 2030, with the organized sector driving this expansion.
The report added that multi-brand companies are emerging as key growth drivers, offering operational efficiency, faster scalability, and diversified revenue streams. They can leverage shared infrastructure to reduce costs and maximize kitchen utilization and such models allow brands to scale rapidly, allowing many companies to achieve ₹100 crore in revenue within 2-3 years.
The QSR sector has been bustling with deal-making activity over the past few months. For instance, Devyani International Ltd (DIL), which operates KFC, Pizza Hut, and Costa Coffee in India, acquired a majority stake in Sky Gate Hospitality, which houses brands like Biryani by Kilo, Goila Butter Chicken and The Bhojan, in a ₹431.3 crore deal in April.
Similarly, Rebel Foods also raised $25 million from Qatar Investment Authority earlier this year, a few months after prominent global investors—Temasek and KKR—invested in the cloud kitchen chain. Others like Mad Over Donuts, Adyar Ananda Bhavan and Wow! Momo are also in various stages of fundraising.
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