Casual dining restaurant chain, Brinker International, which owns more than 1,700 restaurants in 28 countries, opened its first restaurant and bar in India in Bangalore on Friday. Called the Chili’s Grill and Bar, this is the 200th Brinker restaurant outside the United States.

The 126-seat restaurant, located on Airport Road-Bangalore, has been developed by the Jawad Business Group. A sum of Rs 5 crore has been invested into the property. Tapan Vaidya, general manager, Jawad Business Group, said, “This restaurant is part of a 15-restaurant, five-year agreement that will expand Brinker’s presence in India. We are looking at 25 restaurants over five years. These will be in the south and the west of India. The next will be in Mumbai and Hyderabad.”

Jawad Business Group has been a Brinker partner for several years, franchising Chili’s in Bahrain and Maggiano’s in Saudi Arabia. “It took us many years to find the right partner. Finally, we found the Jawad group, which is a multi-dimensional company. They know the market and have multiple retail brands here. For us they were the strategic alliance,” says John Reale, president of global business development, Brinker.

Explaining why they chose Bangalore to launch their first restaurant, Vaidya said, “Bangalore is the right choice because it has a cosmo culture. We understand the consumer patterns and also found the right real estate. We believe our menu blends well with the consumer profile. We have the ability to customise the menu and offer an equally interesting vegetarian platter. Our understanding of Indian tastes and high service will be our USP.”

The menu that they will offer includes a combination of different appetisers, Fajita trio chicken, shrimp and paneer, Quesdillac explosion salad, Honey chilly chicken crispers-hand battered chicken strips and Melting chocolate cake. They will offer an 80 per cent vegetarian menu, developed specifically for Bangalore. “Chili’s-Bangalore will add bold, kicked up flavours such as Tandoori Chicken Sandwich and Paneer Bites to the Bombay Burger, with a Chili’s twist,” said Reale.

Brinker International plans to have 500 restaurants outside the US by 2014. “That’s an aggressive growth plan, about 50 restaurants a year, but we see a world of opportunity out there for us,” said Reale.