DEEPBRIEF | Vikas Iyer on scaling Lenexis Foodworks and owning India’s Desi-Chinese craving

Across your 18 years of experience before joining Lenexis Foodworks, what have been your three biggest leadership learnings — lessons that shaped how you approach marketing and teams today?

Vikas: One big learning that came very early in the career was to look closer to the consumer and not look at what is just discussed in the boardrooms and in headquarters. Being closer, listening to them, was one big trait that got ingrained right at the start, and that’s something I’ve cultivated ever since. In fact, here at Chinese Wok, of the 250 stores, I’m almost closer to touching all 250 stores that I’ve been to or visited in some form.

I think being in the market allows a leader to learn a lot more, observe a lot more, and connect the multiple dots to come to meaningful conclusions.

The second part is essentially building a team. I think it is very important because there’s only so much that a leader alone can do. Right. And therefore, having the right set of people in their roles who can complement each other, work with each other, and build that synergy over time, that’s very, very important. I look for people with that kind of fitment.

Therefore, the team that we have is also very strongly knit. People will immediately take over someone’s role without having to just step up. It’s like a team play. Football is something I was always passionate about, and this is one thing that I continuously bring those traits into the team building aspect.

And the third piece is essentially vulnerability. As a leader, as a trait, it is very, very important. To say that, ‘I don’t know everything,’ ‘don’t look up to me for all the answers. We don’t know this’. Yes. And that also brings the team and gives the team the ownership to solve things. Without holding back. Our meetings are noisy at times because everyone is sharing their point of view. There are some super communicators trying to get the team moving, which I realize, but there are some who are otherwise quiet but are absolutely unabashed when they enter the meeting room with me. That culture is very, very important because some of the silent ideas get heard.

Leadership & Learnings

After joining Lenexis and working closely with Founder Aayush Madhusudan Agrawal and the Lenexis work culture, what has the experience been like? How has it influenced your growth as a professional and as a person?

Vikas: The leadership team here has been an extremely strong-knit one right from day one. A lot of people in the leadership team have been around for the last seven or eight years, right from inception. This is a 10-year-old firm, and there are people who have been around right from the start working with Aayush to build the company.

One, I think Aayush has inculcated a degree of ownership right from the start, saying, ‘You are valuable and you bring something very unique to the table’. That confidence by the founder, right from the start. He has always been a very empowering man.

And that apart… secondly, as the team has seen the whole industry evolve, they’ve also evolved as professionals. And that culture is also being inculcated into the new members of the team, and every new member very quickly adopts the entire culture that we’re bringing. 

We’re building a truly Indian company. It’s an Indian-valued company, with Indian values in its place; there is no international playbook. Yes, Desi is in the brand names and what we do. We behave like that: Indian culture, Indian values at play. That’s what makes it a very strongly knit culture company.

Another word you associate with Aayush?

I think he’s also a very strong visionary. Aayush saw this white space way back in 2015 when the QSR industry was just about burgers and pizzas; he saw a large open space here. Chinese cuisine was the second most consumed cuisine (on the aggregators) at that point in time. And he comes from a family of Pharma, and to leave that legacy and pursue something on his own, he needed a very strong vision, which he has carried forward.

Market Standing & Growth Trajectory

Where does Lenexis Foodworks stand today — current footprint, revenue trajectory, and how each brand contributes to the overall growth story?

Vikas: Today, we are a brand with a 250 store footprint across 45 cities. We moved from a one-store footprint way back in 2015 to about 250 stores now. The plan is to reach about 500 stores by 2027. We are pretty much on that trajectory, having added roughly 100 stores this year, and the plan is to add another 100 stores for the next couple of years to reach that mark.

500 is a nice recurring number for you. You’re aiming for 500 stores by 2027, and your revenue is already at Rs 500 crore.

Yes, we’ve crossed ₹500 crores in revenue. We are also having a very strong CAGR  growth; the two-year CAGR is upwards of 50% right now. We are doing better than the industry benchmarks on same-store sales growth as well — upwards of about 30%.

And what’s the revenue break up like, percentage-wise, across your brands?

Our multi-brand platform includes Chinese Wok, which is the mainstay offline plus online brand, and two cloud kitchen brands, Big Bowl and The Momo Co.. 

Today, Chinese Wok accounts roughly for about 75% of the overall revenue, with Big Bowl for the balance, roughly about 20–25%, and the rest with The Momo Co.. The plan is to add more brands and make it a multi-brand portfolio as we move on. This is stores only of Chinese Wok.

Within the Desi-Chinese and QSR landscape, how do you define your competitive set and the ‘share of cravings’ you aim to own?

Vikas: Our competitive set is very fragmented today. Desi-Chinese has multiple players, including locally strong players. There are very few pan-India players—just a handful of them are present across more than a couple of regions. As a market leader, we are there across all the cities, with probably much larger distribution than anyone else. We would probably be more than twice the size and speed of the second player.

It does affect the customer’s mindset. People travel, and therefore, there is a sense of connect they have when it comes to cravings. The cravings strike very often, so the question is, what is the first brand that comes to your mind? Chinese Wok. We make sure that we are there in that catchment. We open the next store after that serviceable catchment so that the store builds its hyperlocal affinity over the course of the next few months and continues.

The category is competitive because there are multiple players that people have an opportunity to choose from. Well, we want to aim for the first port of call. Therefore, absolute leadership is what we aim for. We just want to make sure that the category becomes a lot bigger because that is the ownership that we, as leaders, have. It’s a lot more unorganized category, and the opportunity is to upgrade people who are currently having their Chinese cravings sorted at street vendors.

What’s the quality-of-footprint view — dine-in vs delivery mix, store formats, and city-tier distribution — and how are these evolving?

Vikas: A lot of our growth came in around the COVID time when the delivery ecosystem was springing up. Therefore, today, roughly 70% to 75% of our business comes in from the delivery ecosystem. It’s a sizeable chunk that comes from the aggregator platforms. The balance comes from the dine-in setup.

Roughly 25% of the business comes in from dine-in, and this focus on dine-in has increased over the last year. It used to be roughly 10% contribution until 2023, and since then, we have come up to 25%.

That rapid growth within two years is a function of additional stores, but also the format in terms of how we have identified the right formats to enter. Around the COVID time, we opened a lot of dark kitchens to service the delivery ecosystem. In the last couple of years, we have consciously moved towards opening a lot of high street stores and being present in malls and food courts. We are also increasing our focus on high street locations to give a better dining experience.

We want our brand to be known for a great dining experience, apart from all the other aspects of hygiene, consistency, quality, and great ingredients. We’ve upgraded our stores, the interiors, and the graphics, bringing in additional engagements for customers while they wait for their food.

In fact, over the last few months, we have been focused on ensuring that our store formats are a little larger than what they used to be so that we could have more space. It also cues in premiumness for the experience. We want to make sure we are bringing in a higher set of stores where people can choose us for more social dining and group dining purposes. We used to have roughly 600 to 800 sq. ft. stores earlier, and now we are looking at 1,000 to 1,500 square foot.

We have roughly about 60% of our stores in metros today. The balance are all in Tier 2 and Tier 3 set of towns that we’ve opened in the last couple of years, accounting for roughly 100-plus stores right now. Most of the expansion is also taking place in the Tier 2, Tier 3 towns, where about 60% to 80% of our new stores are coming up. We are currently in roughly 45 overall towns.

As Lenexis completes ten years, what have been the most defining strategic milestones and marketing shifts in shaping Chinese Wok into a national brand?

Vikas: It is a national brand today. It started off with the ambition of organizing India’s loved cuisine, Chinese, and looking at that white space, realizing there was no organized player with scale that had built a brand around this. This was at a time when the burger and pizza categories had been organized for almost a couple of decades. It started with a neighborhood store with the brand name called Wok Express around that time.

Until about 2019, it was all about perfecting the cuisine and understanding how we could do this at scale, and understanding operations. Then they realized the brand needed a new avatar that could take massive scale out, given the clearly large addressable market. That led to the entire refresh and rebranding in the form of Chinese Wok around 2020. The goal was to build a new identity, a sharp brand voice, and a brand that could scale across the entire country. It was only a Mumbai-based brand until then.

The scale-up started from there. One big milestone was this rebranding. The first big milestone was identifying this segment. It was the right time to build a brand around a cuisine that had previously been limited to either the street vendor segment or fine dining, thereby bridging the gap that existed in the QSR space.

The milestones were: 2015 was the inception. End of 2019 was when Wok Express got rebranded to Chinese Wok. 2020 is when Big Bowl and The Momo Co. were born, key milestone was the brand identities and strategic marketing communication in 2024 and 2025.

Portfolio & Brand Strategy

What is the strategic logic behind operating multiple brands — Chinese Wok, Big Bowl, and The Momo Co.? How do you position and manage them for distinct consumer needs?

Vikas: What we want to do essentially is offer any form of food that is there in the Asian pan-Asian segment to our consumers. Whether they can be done through a Chinese Wok or a Big Bowl or The Momo Co. or any other brands that we build in the future, we’ll try and address it through that. It’s a food brand platform where India’s food comfort food needs are getting solved.

The brand identities that we are building are very, very distinct from each other. Chinese Wok’s positioning is clearly around cravings. We ensure it’s the cravings destination, as the biggest entry point for any Chinese food category is cravings. You don’t go because you’re hungry. You go there because you have a craving for that particular taste.

With Big Bowl, a similar thing is happening from a positioning standpoint: it’s all around hunger, and we want to be the single port of call for hunger.

How do you balance synergy and independence between these brands — what’s centralised versus locally managed?

Vikas: Well, all our operations to a large extent in the store are decentralized. They’re managed in the store. Our supply chain is all centrally integrated. Most of the operations is done in the store. We want to make sure that we give our products fresh every day to our consumers. Therefore stringent SOPs are laid out to make sure that those SOPs bring in the freshness into our products.

The Chinese Wok restaurant also doubles up as the kitchen for Chinese Wok. Also doubles up as a kitchen for Big Bowl. No, it’s all from the same kitchen. The only classification, the big one that is there in the kitchen is about veg and non-veg. Otherwise, the KOT machine tells us whether it’s a Big Bowl order or a Chinese Wok order, and then basis the recipes essentially the product.

Lenexis follows a COCO model to ensure consistency. From a brand-building lens, what are the marketing and consumer-trust advantages of that approach?

Vikas: I think one big strong advantage is control over the kind of experience that we can give to our consumers. Having that control gives clarity on the kind of experience that we would want to provide without having any sort of diffusion taking place. COCO also ensures to a large extent the kind of formats that we choose and the unit economics. Therefore, the ability to provide better value to the consumers in terms of pricing, in terms of the advantages that we can give from an offer perspective. The ability to also understand the consumer and the data very well so that we can put in programs in place for them to come back, spend more time with us, or acquiring newer consumers like them. All of this essentially becomes a lot more seamless, a lot more streamlined in a COCO model.

From the early days of Wok Express to the scale of Chinese Wok today — how has the brand voice, menu, and customer promise evolved?

Vikas: Initially, it was all about food, presenting the food in the right way, and focusing on the taste, quality, and functional attributes that were important. It was crucial to establish that well and gain trust. Marketing was focused on tactical communication and tactical offers.

I think from then on it has evolved to a large brand-driven narrative now. It’s a lot more culturally relevant communication, closer to the consumer and closer to the culture we are trying to build. Therefore, brand narrative and storytelling have become much more important. Food is still the center of our communication, but we are building by adding emotion to it, in the form of cravings. And then building some other storytelling and being a part of the cultural narrative that people associate with.

Regarding the menu, we learned from observations that they found the earlier menu a lot more complex and non-QSR like. The earlier menu had roughly four to six pages long, with multiple dishes lined up like a multi-cuisine restaurant. It used to take a lot of time for people to read, and a longer time to order.

Now what we’ve done is we have made it very QSR like; there are combos that you can pick. Within combos, you just have to make a couple of selections. The ordering time has come down by roughly about 25% to 30% in our stores. Fewer conversations at the point of sale, and the decision-making has been much faster.

How do you ensure each brand’s identity remains distinct, yet all reinforce the parent company’s overall promise of quality and flavour?

Vikas: Lenexis’ primary identity is to become a home, a name that can be renowned in homes for giving great food. It’s all coming from what consumers want. Therefore, the core is that understanding of consumers is core to each of the brand identities that we are forming. As long as we can stay true to that true customer insight, we are building distinct identities while they are also appealing to the entire brand of Lenexis.

The baseline of taste and quality is common to all of them. And then there are nuances that come in with each brand, and the need gap that they are addressing in the market.

How do you prioritise product and format innovation across brands, and what learnings flow from one to another?

Vikas: Some of this also happens with our culinary expert, the corporate chef we have on board, and he leads a lot of this work throughout the year for us. It is a very stringent process that goes through multiple iterations and multiple rounds of revision: one at a food level and then at a supply chain level. While we are doing all of that, the process remains the same for all three brands. The SOP is not changing between a Big Bowl, a Chinese Wok and The Momo Co.

But what we are trying to solve for in each of these three brands is very different:

1. Chinese Wok: It’s very clearly flavor first and whether it addresses the craving as much as we want becomes a core point of contact for us.
2. Big Bowl: It’s about a hearty, wholesome meal. We optimize for a more nutritional meal for our consumers.
3. The Momo Co.: It is again about experimenting in the world of Momos. We launch something that people have not seen so far, like the Crunchy Momos (Kurkure Momos).

For instance, the Crunchy Momo (Kurkure Momos) that we have just got, which we also launched in Chinese Wok, received great reception. It became like a ground where we could offer customers the entire world of Momos and use some of the best sellers by bringing them down into Chinese Wok.

Expansion, Tailwinds & Moats

With Chinese Wok targeting 500 stores by FY 27, what does the growth roadmap look like — and what factors drive your city and site selection?

Vikas: The plan is to reach to about 500 stores by 2027. We are pretty much on that trajectory. We’ve added roughly about 100 stores in this year, and the plan is to add another 100 stores for the next couple of years to reach that mark.

New city selection is on account of where we find that there is a market which we can come to. In most markets we tend to be pretty much the first player who brings in the Chinese cuisine in a QSR format. The size of the market and the size of the craving define the kind of markets that we are going into. When we go in, we make sure that we are there in the vicinity in the next one year’s time. So, more stores, not just one for a presence, but to address the needs of the consumers in that city within a 3 to 5 kilometer radius, we have our new stores open there.

How is the brand adapting to Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets in terms of menu, price sensitivity, and communication style?

Vikas: We have actually seen a much better response in Tier 2, Tier 3 set of towns. Our initial hypothesis was that people search for discounts and therefore we’ll have to price it lower. But we quickly figured out that people are looking for a good premium brand which provides hygienic food in a consistent form and they’re ready to pay that premium for it. They just want it in a format that is accessible to them.

Therefore, we price it at the same price that we have it in our metros. There is no distinction in pricing. Our overall affinity is much better in a Tier 2, Tier 3 set of towns because the competition is less, and we are able to address the craving share much better. The response to our brand is also better because they see this as a great place to hang out and also order in whenever the need comes in.

The adoption has been much better, and the retention has also been much better. Also, the cost of going into the market is actually on the lower side, and therefore, we expect a faster turnaround to profitability for these set of stores.

What are the biggest growth tailwinds benefiting the Desi-Chinese QSR segment, and what challenges or headwinds are you preparing for?

Vikas: I have many tailwinds. They start right from a growing affluent populace in the country. A lot of people wanting to experience different cuisines, upgrading from street style to an actual QSR format. The desire for a more Indianized version of the Chinese dish is also growing at a very heavy pace. Chinese cuisine happens to be the second most eaten cuisine on aggregator platforms today. It’s a favorite for the Gen Zs and millennials. That market is purely where the craving frequency is much higher.

I think in this segment, one, it’s because of the nature that it is fragmented today, it’s very important to build a strong brand with national identity, with very strong hyper-local affinity at the same point. We need to be relevant to that particular market. And therefore, to build a brand that has this sharp identity, which translates into the offline set of stores and experience as well is very, very important. We must balance building a brand while we are also expanding at that particular scale. We must ensure that the brand stays culturally relevant and young, because if it needs to appeal to the Gen Zs and the millennials, it needs to also talk to them like them. People have seen this as a successful model now, and therefore, there are lots of brands that are springing up across places. That increases the competitive intensity.

From a marketing standpoint, what do you see as Lenexis’ key moats — brand recall, operational speed, supply chain, or consumer trust?

Vikas: Lenexis’ moat is actually a combination of all of these in some sense. Our north star is to solve for India’s everyday food moments with strong taste, accessibility and a consistent experience, across different brands we operate. Our COCO model gives us complete control over experience, speed, and execution. A robust supply chain and rigorous training SOPs ensure consistency, while sharp, distinctive brand building assets allows us to cater to diverse consumer need states. Together, these elements create an ecosystem that is exceptionally difficult to replicate at scale.

Big Bowl has scaled as a cloud-kitchen-first brand — what lessons does it offer about consistency, regional taste, and digital marketing?

Vikas: For a cloud kitchen brand like Big Bowl, consistency matters more than novelty. While regional taste may vary, familiarity and comfort are more important to win over consumers. The brand does well with consumers who have moved away from their hometown for work, and want their dose of comfort via food.

Our positioning around Hunger and the latest campaign around “Smash Your Hunger” is built around this simple consumer promise. On digital marketing, we have seen that the performance and conversions are stronger when the content is informal, honest and user-made, and not overtly polished. 

The Momo Co. addresses another craving segment — how does its marketing narrative differ from Chinese Wok and Big Bowl?

Vikas: The Momo Co (TMC) is more about the joy of snacking and exploration in the world of momos. We attempt to induce trials by keep the narrative direct, more impulse-driven and talk about newer dishes to keep the brand fresh. This approach sets us apart from Big Bowl, which anchors itself in the comfort of familiar, everyday meals.

Campaigns & Marketing

Chinese Bole Toh, Chinese Wok has a strong mnemonic hook. What was the core insight behind the campaign, and what craving or cultural code does it tap into?

Vikas: Our core is about owning the entry point of this category of Chinese cuisine. And very clearly that’s about the craving that you get. It’s a very strong urge, we discussed that. So we want to own that with this ‘Chinese Bole Toh Chinese Wok’ campaign and the line. The word craving is implied in this particular line. And what we want to do is tell people that this is the first port of call, this is the only port of call in a way that one would have, when it comes to Chinese cravings. We want to own and build the codes of that particular segment.

How is the campaign being leveraged across the year — through new menu extensions, store experiences, and media bursts?

Vikas: Part of brand building involves building the right communication—the thematic. And ‘Chinese Bole Toh Chinese Wok’ is basically a result of that. The second is distribution, making sure that we are reaching out to people.

We deploy a lot of hyper-local influencers who create content there—review content or store visit content. We advertise our content around the new campaign which tells people why they should look at just one brand when it comes to their Chinese needs.

We do OTT inventory. We do a lot of cricket; IPL has been a major focus. We advertise across OTT channels. We are collaborating into content spaces: we’ve collaborated with a few popular web series and been seamlessly integrated in the storyline. We are participating in an upcoming reality TV show. We have done collaborations with movies in the past, like Thamma (for Diwali) and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. We also launched some limited edition combos with the movie in our stores, which creates freshness and new news.

We have started using radio as a reminder. It’s a frequency medium. We created a tongue twister for Chinese Wok, which we’re popularizing now on radio and asking people to attempt it. Our film is also based on that, on what people can call Chinese Wok differently. We use on-ground activations in stores and malls to increase our engagements.

Chinese Wok has built strong visibility during the IPL. What did you learn from the ad-slots, contests, and cricket-themed packaging efforts?

Vikas: The IPL played a pivotal role in building both memory and trust for the brand. It helped legitimize us at scale. We observed the strongest impact when IPL, influencer collaborations, and retail integrations worked in tandem. Our cricket-themed packaging and contests added a sense of playfulness, helping us connect more deeply with our target audience.

A key learning reinforced through this experience was the importance of context. Our integrations and creative communication perform best when they feel organically part of the moment, not like a forced association. We remain open to exploring similar high-impact events in the future.

You’ve also explored film and OTT partnerships — what’s your evaluation of entertainment integrations as a brand-lift tool?

Vikas: The other content engagements, while they are seamless in their integrations (through a web series or through movie associations), they also lead a lasting memory in people’s mind because they see it as a part of the narrative and they see it as a part of their life as well. We are reaching consumers wherever they are consuming content, but in a very seamless manner, not being very pushy, making sure that you’re a part of the narrative in some form. The recent web series that we did called Office Dancers is about a group of office people, and our brand is very seamlessly integrated into the story flow.

Influencer and celebrity collaborations have become key pillars — which content formats and creators deliver the strongest engagement and sales lift?

Vikas: Regional creators have emerged as our most credible voices, they drive strong intent triggers like store visits and food trials. We’ve seen great traction when their content feels authentic and reflects their unique style.

Snackable, humor-led, and meme-driven content consistently outperforms highly polished, long-form films with linear messaging. We are now experimenting with task-based formats — like tongue twisters for Chinese Wok or spice-rating challenges — to spark participation and encourage user-generated content.

When it comes to celebrities or macro influencers, our approach is that the content must feel real, candid, and relatable. The moment it looks scripted, engagement drops.

The brand has experimented with AR filters, CGI assets, QR codes, and gamified packaging. Which of these innovations truly deepened customer connection?

Vikas: Each of these innovations has played a distinct role in strengthening customer connection. Our CGI-led Wok Tornado campaign helped build strong recall and highlighted our 200+ store, pan-India presence. QR codes, gamified packaging, and tray liners kept customers engaged during their dining experience — turning wait time into play time. AR filters, on the other hand, have driven social shareability; our recent filter that let users watch a Chinese Wok chef in action was especially well received.

With initiatives like tongue twisters, we are now creating a distinct sonic identity — something fun and memorable that consumers can instantly associate with us. Looking ahead, we’re exploring new opportunities across AI, AR, and emerging digital platforms like Snapchat to build simple, playful, and share-worthy experiences that bring the brand closer to our consumers.

After your store re-branding and new CX design, what tangible improvements have you seen in brand perception and repeat visits?

Vikas: The ordering time has come down by roughly about 25% to 30% in our stores. Fewer conversations at the point of sale, and the decision-making has been much faster. We are moving towards larger high street stores (1,000–1,500 sq. ft.) to give a better dining experience. 

We want our brand to be known for a great dining experience. We are seeing a higher average order value coming in from Tier 2, Tier 3 markets because they see this as a place where they can actually go and explore the menu and spend more and have a much better time. The adoption and retention has also been much better in those towns.

How do your marketing approaches differ across Chinese Wok, Big Bowl, and The Momo Co. in tone, audience, and regional execution?

Vikas: The brands have distinct identities based on the core need they address: Chinese Wok is bold and adventurous around cravings; Big Bowl is positioned around hunger and being a hearty meal; and The Momo Co. focuses on experimentation in the world of Momos. The goal is to be present in a uniform form across platforms but ‘converse with them the way they would like’ on that platform (e.g., Instagram builds a very different tonality than LinkedIn).

What are your core beliefs about good marketing — the non-negotiables that define every campaign under your leadership?

Vikas: The core belief needs to be a very strong consumer insight that we’re trying to address. It has to be what I call as ‘concept plus one’. What is a new concept which is stemming from a very core consumer insight that moves the brand forward in the positive direction? Nailing that is absolutely important.

The second one is how it translates into a great brief so that our partners can work on it. Getting that brief very sharp on one single thing that you would want the consumer to take back home is very critical.

Once all of this is in place, how do you then look at the distribution and make sure that the distribution is both effective and efficient? The vehicles are efficient and the medium is effective to make sure that the consumer gets it and they recall the brand. Those are very core beliefs that I continuously ingrain and take the team through.

How do you approach reputation management for fast-scaling food brands — from consumer feedback to social listening and crisis response?

Vikas: We have a Customer Service and a Guest Service team which specifically looks into customer feedback across aggregator platforms, digital, as well as offline medium. We have very strict SOPs laid out in terms of the turnaround times and resolving such complaint queries. 

Social listening becomes a part of this exercise where we’re trying to understand across other forums if there are consumers talking about a brand, how do we go and address them. The reputation management is anchored with partners who are experts in managing crisis.

Reputation is absolutely important for a food service company. There is rigorous training that’s given to each of our people who are interacting with consumers day in and day out on how they should interact and the kind of conflict resolution they should have.

What are your views on the ideal partnership between Client and the Reputation partner?

The relationship between a CMO and a PR partner is based on shared, very clear objectives and mutual trust. With that comes sharing a lot of information and sharing vulnerabilities of what we can see as potential risk. The ability to sort of turn around a very quick, thought-based response if a crisis happens, is also key.

Owning the craving moment: What consumer behaviour are you trying to encode with the new line, and how do you measure craving → cart → repeat?

Vikas: Our core is about owning the entry point of this category of Chinese cuisine. And very clearly that’s about the craving that you get. It’s a very strong urge, we discussed that. So we want to own that with this ‘Chinese Bole Toh Chinese Wok’ campaign and the line. The word craving is implied in this particular line. What we want to do is tell people that this is the first port of call, this is the only port of call in a way that one would have, when it comes to Chinese cravings.

For online channels, we track first-order triggers such as time of day, location, and meal occasions — these help us understand when and why cravings convert into carts.

We also analyze menu exploration and the incidence of specific dishes in repeat orders to see whether an initial craving is turning into a habit. These signals come from both online and offline channels.

Weekend indulgence and party orders are strong indicators of brand affinity — they show that we’ve become the go-to choice for “mass cravings.”

Finally, our biannual brand track studies and periodic dipsticks help us measure shifts in brand health parameters such as top-of-mind recall, spontaneous awareness, and brand imagery.

How are you allocating spend across cricket TV, OTT, influencers, and retail media, especially for Tier 2 and Tier 3?

Vikas: We are very conscious of the kind of money and the kind of impact that it brings. We have iterated on our media selection to make sure that we get the best bang for the buck regardless of the medium that we choose. 

In Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, some of the outdoor mechanisms essentially work really well, like the ones that you pointed out, high footfall places, so that you can be present there. Some of those tactical interventions take place on a regular basis. 

We have started using radio as a reminder. It’s a frequency medium. We want to build a sonic identity around it. We use OTT inventory, cricket, web series, movies, and on-ground activations.

Our marketing media philosophy balances high-intent moments for impact with everyday touchpoints for frequency.

Digital platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat account for around 40–50% of our spends. OTT, including live sports and impact events like the IPL, contributes another 20–30%. Influencer activations take up 10–15%, while on-ground activations, outdoor, and radio together make up another 10–15%. The remaining spends are allocated to brand collaborations and partnerships.

Spending patterns vary across metros and Tier 2/Tier 3 markets, but our social media strategy remains always-on, ensuring continuous engagement.

Performance marketing is managed separately and executed directly on aggregator platforms.

How do you keep the humorous name-mix-up concept fresh without diluting its recall?

Vikas: We’ve created a tongue twister for Chinese Walk, Woke, Wok —there are different ways in which people pronounce it, and therefore what we’re doing is just we made a funny tongue twister. Our film is also based on that, on what can people call Chinese Wok differently as you don’t recall the name of the restaurant. We are popularizing this tongue twister now on radio and asking people to attempt it. That stays in the mind for a much longer duration.

Which analytics or loyalty metrics best predict repeat orders—and what’s next for data-driven marketing?

Vikas: We closely track metrics like cost of first order and repeat order rates by cohort to understand the efficiency of acquisition and retention.

We also monitor frequency and upgrade behavior, especially among customers who enter the brand through our value SKUs, such as the Superbowl at ₹99, and later move up the menu. Tracking the incidence of core SKUs alongside new or innovative launches helps us gauge product stickiness and appetite for experimentation.

Finally, guest sentiment remains a critical metric — we track it through ratings on aggregator platforms and Google, as well as NPS for dine-in experiences. Together, these insights guide our data-driven marketing decisions and help us strengthen repeat behavior.

Performance, Financial Discipline & Roadmap

From today’s run-rate to the ₹1,000-crore aspiration — what are the top growth levers from a marketing-impact standpoint?

Vikas: From a marketing-impact standpoint, our focus is on a few key growth levers.

First, deepening our share of cravings in core markets — ensuring we are the top choice whenever hunger strikes. Second, expanding into existing and new Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, backed by localized communication and culturally relevant content. Third, building stronger brand affinity among the youth by scaling our cultural relevance — through distinctive, clutter-breaking storytelling, memorable brand assets, and meaningful collaborations with creators and content platforms.

We are also enhancing the in-store experience — from design and ease of ordering to speed and overall vibe — to make every visit more enjoyable. And finally, loyalty and CRM initiatives will play a big role in driving repeat behavior and encouraging upgrades.

What’s the internal framework for evaluating new city launches — what defines a greenlight or a red-flag for you?

Vikas: New city selection is based on where we find that there is a market which we can come to. In most markets we tend to be pretty much the first player who brings in the Chinese cuisine in a QSR format. 

The size of the market and the size of the craving define the kind of markets that we are going into. We aim for faster turnaround to profitability in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets.

How closely does the marketing function work with supply-chain and product teams to ensure promises made in campaigns are delivered in-store?

Vikas: This happens with our culinary expert, the corporate chef we have on board, and he leads a lot of this work throughout the year. It is a very stringent process that goes through multiple iterations and multiple rounds of revision: one at a food level and then at a supply chain level to see how we can deliver the same quality in our store.

How are technology, data, and CRM shaping the brand’s ability to personalise and retain customers?

Vikas: The COCO model provides the ability to understand the consumer and the data very well so that we can put in programs in place for them to come back and spend more time with us or acquire newer consumers. We deep dive in data primarily to understand the kind of repeats we have, whether people upgrade, and whether they explore the rest of the menu.

What are the biggest cost-management challenges in marketing large-scale QSR brands while keeping communication aspirational?

Vikas: We ensure we get the ‘best bang for the buck’ regardless of the medium we choose. We focus on efficient distribution and selecting effective media channels.

Are there international markets that excite you for Chinese Wok’s eventual expansion — and how would the brand voice travel globally?

Vikas: For now, our focus firmly remains on India first — there is a large market waiting to be organized.

That said, Desi Chinese has strong global legs, especially in markets with a significant Indian diaspora. Any international expansion will be carefully calibrated, ensuring we retain the essence of what makes the brand unique.

Our immediate focus is to strengthen our domestic foundation and becoming a homegrown national QSR brand with strong India values, guided by an Indian playbook, and scaled meaningfully across the country.

What key performance milestones should industry watchers track between now and FY 27?

Vikas: Between now and FY27, there are a few key milestones we’re focused on. First, quality-led store expansion — we should be inching closer towards 500 stores with a quality of footprint that will reinforce our leadership position. Second, scaling revenues to achieve the ₹1,000 crore ARR GMV milestone, driven by balanced and sustainable growth. Third, continued improvement in EBITDA and a steady increase in the number of operationally profitable stores.

We also plan to expand our multi-brand platform and introduce exciting menu innovations to keep the portfolio fresh. And finally, we are looking to strengthen brand recall and affinity, building genuine brand love through impactful campaigns and storytelling.

Leadership, Organisation & Culture

Over your years in marketing, what are the three decisions you’d proudly repeat and one you would now approach differently?

Vikas: If I look back, there are three decisions I’d proudly repeat:

1. Staying close to consumer and store reality 
2. Building brands that are culture first, and not just campaign led 
3. Prioritize ownership and team talent and a spirit of learning by experimentation, over governing by hierarchy 

My approach has changed towards a few things like

1. Adopting an always on content model vs focusing on campaign bursts 
2.  Codifying our learnings into playbooks, while the spirit of experimentation stays alive. 

What’s your day-to-day leadership cadence — how do you balance creative oversight, performance marketing, and team mentoring?

Vikas: I prefer structured weekly reviews and frequent feedback cycles, rather than waiting for end-of-campaign debriefs. It keeps us agile and the ability to experiment goes up significantly when feedback is real-time.

My creative discussions are usually short, sharp stand-ups with both my team and agency partners. In team interactions, I actively encourage debate and open dialogue — making sure even the quieter ideas get heard, because some of the best ones often come from there.

As Lenexis scales, what are the key organisational and capability additions driving stronger brand execution and customer experience?

Vikas: Our training programs are being continuously enhanced to deliver a more consistent and elevated brand experience across every touchpoint. We are also deepening our regional focus by hiring local marketing talent and partnering with regional agencies.

On the data front, our consumer insights and analytics capabilities are being upgraded to help us understand customers better and respond faster. And finally, we are investing in R&D for menu innovation and a more agile supply chain.

Culture at scale: how do you keep both your marketer’s mindset and Lenexis’ mission and commitment alive across hundreds of outlets?

Vikas: We are building a truly Indian company. It has Indian values in its place. There is a degree of ownership that has been inculcated right from the start. 

As I’ve said elsewhere in our chat, the founder Aayush is a very empowering man. We ensure that the culture is inculcated into new members. It is important that the mission trickles down to the employees, and they need to be sort of reputation ambassadors. 

There is rigorous training given to each of our people who are interacting with consumers day in and day out on how they should interact and resolve conflict.

Closers & Reflections

In one short sentence or paragraph, how would you define the strategic positioning of Lenexis Foodworks today?

Vikas: Lenexis Foodworks is a homegrown, India-first food company. We are building powerful brands around India’s most loved eating behaviours and cuisines.  We aim to be multi-brand, multi-format while ensuring great taste, hygiene and consistency in what we serve.  Our disciplined execution, consumer insight driving our communications, and an authority on flavours is what sets us apart. 

Looking ahead, what does the next decade of growth look like for Lenexis Foodworks and its brands?

Vikas: A decade is a long horizon in the QSR space. For us at Lenexis, the first 10 years were about proving the category, establishing market fit, and building scale. The next 10 would be focused around building an enduring food culture, deepening experience across verticals, strengthening our Indian playbook, and earning genuine consumer love with every market we enter and every interaction we create.

Specifically, we aim to cement Chinese Wok as India’s definitive answer to Chinese cravings, making it a truly pan-Indian brand with strong equity and footprint. Big Bowl will continue to evolve as India’s everyday bowl, built on familiarity and comfort. Beyond these, we plan to create two to three new, consumer-led food brands, expanding Lenexis into a robust multi-brand QSR platform.

Finally, what’s your advice to emerging QSR and F&B marketers in India — about storytelling, consistency, and reputation management? What do you look for in aspirants wanting to join your team?

Vikas: For a new recruit, the one big thing that I look for is a degree of agency. Will the person be able to run his tasks on his own? There is a degree of ownership that he brings in to the task that he has and is able to see through the tasks to completion. People with agency will not come back to you or their superior with just a problem, they’ll also come back with a probable solution.

The second is the degree of consumer love and understanding. Are you able to talk about nuances that I may not have observed or is there something new that you have learned that I don’t know? The quality of a marketer is to bring that insight in. 

For a raw recruit, I look for a simple desire to learn both these aspects: consumer and people. And values, to a large extent, one of the big values is essentially curiosity coupled with agency.