L Catterton, born out of a tie-up with LVMH, the group behind Louis Vuitton, Dior and Krug, has invested in a name far removed from couture runways and champagne cellars, i.e., Nandhana Palace, the South Indian restaurant chain loved for its Andhra chicken curry and gunpowder rice.
Order chicken 65 at any Nandhana Palace and you will notice the same thing regulars have known for years: the spice hits first, then the crunch, then that ache to order a second plate before the first one’s finished. It’s not fancy. It doesn’t need to be.
That kind of loyalty just landed a Rs 288 crore deal. Bengaluru’s Nandhana Foods, the group behind Nandhana Palace and RNR, has struck an agreement with L Catterton, an investment firm with deep LVMH roots. Turns out the money chasing champagne and couture is just as happy backing a plate of Andhra chicken curry.
A Familiar Bloodline
Formed in 2016 through a merger between Catterton, LVMH and the Arnault Group, the firm still counts the Arnault family office among its investors. That’s what makes this Nandhana Palace LVMH investment genuinely interesting to anyone who follows where luxury money actually goes once it leaves the runway.
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Started in 2004, Nandhana has spent twenty years perfecting Andhra and Karnataka comfort food, now running 25 plus restaurants across Bengaluru and Chennai. Walk into one on any given evening and you will find the same thing that keeps loyalists coming back. The restaurant brings together the combination of spice, the consistency and a kind of dependable comfort that no amount of ambience design can fake.
Betting On Comfort
L Catterton Partner Vikram Kumaraswamy has reportedly said that there is a headroom for additional growth, hinting at plans to push beyond South India into new cities. Nandhana’s founder Dr R Ravichandar called the partnership a natural fit, praising L Catterton’s deep read on the restaurant business and its knack for scaling brands without diluting what made them loved in the first place.
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It’s a familiar playbook for L Catterton, which has backed nearly 30 restaurant brands globally, from Dishoom to P.F. Chang’s, sitting on close to Rs 3.84 lakh crore in managed capital.
The twist for luxury watchers is simple. This LVMH India investment shows how global luxury capital is beginning to look beyond handbags, champagne and haute couture for its next big Indian bet.
