RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Indage Group, India’s largest wine manufacturer and restaurant and hotel chain in Mumbai, India, plans to open five Indian restaurants and a headquarters operation in Virginia. Indage also will partner with Richmond restaurateur Jack Mehta to oversee management of his restaurant, India Garden & Grill, in Richmond. A memorandum of understanding between the restaurant owners was signed in Mumbai last night as part of a week-long trade mission organized by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
“Indage Group operates a chain of high-end restaurants in India, and this agreement will open-up exciting opportunities for a well-known Indian company to bring authentic Indian cuisine and modern Indian restaurants to Virginia,” said Governor Kaine. “Indage Group is a welcome addition to the Commonwealth’s increasingly diverse business community.”
Indage Group is a diversified group of companies involved in commercial construction, structural engineering, wines and spirits, restaurants and hotels. It is the largest and oldest wine producer in India, with a 70 percent market share, and operates the largest fine dining restaurant chain in India. Indage has been rated by many financial publications as among the top 500 companies in India.
“We have begun distribution of Indian wine in the U.S. market successfully and now this opens up a great opportunity for us to market Indian food and Indage brand restaurants in the U.S.,” said Vickrant Chougule, Director of Indage Group. “We truly appreciate the support that Virginia and Governor Kaine’s Office has extended us. We are very excited.”
“I truly believe the next food craze in the U.S. will be Indian food as it is in Britain and few other countries,” said Jack Mehta, owner of India Garden & Grill. “I am very excited to see Indage Group join hands with us and enter the U.S. market. Indage Group has changed the scene of the restaurant business in India and I look forward to the introduction of modern, high-end Indian restaurants in Virginia like they have in Mumbai today.”