A World of Brands, Curated for Taste

1,000 stores across 165+ cities

Mumbai, 14^th January 2026: Subway, one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant brands* in freshly made-to-order, customisable sandwiches, announced the opening of its 1,000th store in India at Paras Florett, Gurugram. This historic milestone reflects the brand’s strong growth across the country. With an average of two new stores opening every week over the last three years, it is among the fastest-growing premium quick service restaurant brands in India**.

Operated by EverBrands (part of Everstone Group), Subway India has in the last three years, opened 350+ stores in new locations in its network, expanding its footprint into over 165 cities with 3,500+ employees. Since its entry into the Indian market in 2001, Subway India continues to rank among Subway’s top global growth markets, encouraged by rising demand for fresh, customisable, value-driven food offerings.

Subway’s rapid expansion has been supported by a consistent evolution of its menu offerings — including the value-oriented Sub Cravers range starting at INR 79, indulgent range Hot & Cheesy Signature Subs, Fresh Salads with 1.5x protein, and an innovative all-day Breakfast range, catering to the fast-paced Indian lifestyle. The Signature Rice Bowls offering a new range of flavours and customisable options designed with the Indian palette in mind, are the most recent addition to the already vibrant Indian menu. These offerings represent Subway’s ethos of adaptation to dynamic consumer preferences.

Tarun Bhasin, CEO, Culinary Brands (Subway India) remarked, “This is a defining moment in time for Subway India’s growth trajectory and reflects the increasing scale of the brand’s ‘Better for You’ menu positioning across India. We are very grateful to our customers for their trust. I would also like to thank the thousands of Sandwich Artists and the great team working relentlessly across our stores, delighting customers every day. We look forward to the next 1,000!”

About Subway Restaurants:

As one of the world’s largest sandwich-focused quick service restaurant brands*, Subway serves freshly made sandwiches at a great value to millions of guests around the world in nearly 35,000 restaurants every day.

Subway India, operated under Culinary Brands (part of Everstone Group), is an established player in India’s quick service restaurant sector, with a menu comprising freshly prepared, made-to-order and customisable offerings, designed to deliver unique flavour experiences.

For more information, please visit: www.subway.in

Media Contact:

Naheed Contractor – +91 9324541187 / ncontractor@everstonegroup.com

Shubhangi Chaturvedi – +91 9619821154 / schaturvedi@eversourcecapital.com

*by store count, as of end-2025

**with a network size of at least 100 stores in India

Mumbai, India | February 3, 2026: Playbook Partners, has led a $15 million investment in EverBrands, the operator of Subway (through its subsidiary Culinary Brands India Private Limited), and operator of Lavazza Coffee, F&H Coffee, and the exclusive distributor for Dilmah Tea, in India (through its subsidiary Fresh and Honest Café Private Limited).

This marks Playbook Partners’ third investment in India since it announced the first close of its $250 million fund, reinforcing the firm’s thesis of supporting scalable, profitable and technology-enabled businesses.

The investment comes at a significant point for EverBrands (part of Everstone Group), with Subway India recently crossing the 1,000-store milestone. With an average of two new stores opening every week over the last three years, it is among the fastest-growing quick service restaurant brands in India*.

Playbook’s investment reflects its core focus on large aspirational markets, strong unit economics, and businesses serving the digital consumer on an institutional level. EverBrands’ multi-brand platform with differentiated global brands and profitable growth, align closely with Playbook’s operator-driven approach for value creation.

Vikas Choudhury, Founder & Managing Partner, Playbook Partners, said, “EverBrands has built a scaled operating platform across two globally recognized brands, with unit-level economics and operating practises focused on disciplined execution. This investment validates our thesis of partnering with businesses that have an established presence within their respective categories. We look forward to partnering with the team to support the continued scaling of a well-established food and beverage platform in India.”

About Playbook Partners

An Operator Driven Growth Capital Firm for Digital India, investing in leading mid-market businesses leveraging the tech-enabled transformation of the world’s fastest-growing economy. Founder was formerly President of India’s largest digital business, Reliance Jio, across telecom, media and e-commerce. [Its leadership team brings in decades of business-building and operating experience across Reliance, McKinsey, Bain Capital, Asian Paints, Automation Anywhere and Aakash Education. Investing track record of 20 years in private markets in India – 60+ investments, 10+ Unicorns/IPOs/Exits (InMobi, Myntra, Fractal, PolicyBazaar, Nazara, NSE, Rapido, etc.). For more information, visit www.playbook.in

About EverBrands

EverBrands, part of the Everstone Group, operates Subway (through its subsidiary Culinary Brands India Private Limited), Lavazza Coffee, F&H Coffee, and is the exclusive distributor for Dilmah Tea, in India (through its subsidiary Fresh and Honest Café Private Limited).

The Group is one of Asia’s premier investment groups, focused on cross-border investments between North America and Asia, as well as domestic investments in India and Southeast Asia. Founded in 2006, and headquartered in Singapore, Everstone manages ~ US$8 billion in assets across private equity, real estate, sustainable infrastructure, and venture capital.

For more information, visit www.everstonegroup.com

*with a network size of at least 100 stores in India

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 23 (ANI/PRNewswire): Culinary Brands (CB), part of Everstone Group, signed an exclusive license for the premium Lavazza brand in India.

CB also acquired from Lavazza Group a significant majority stake in Fresh and Honest Cafe Limited (F&H), the owners of the manufacturing facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh (with a capacity of 9,000 tons per annum) and of the affordable ‘Fresh and Honest’ coffee brand CB is the exclusive Master Franchisee of Subway in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

This partnership was a significant step in Subway’s transformation journey and expansion plans globally. Under this exclusive agreement, CB will triple Subway stores in India over 10 years. Dev Amritesh, CEO of Culinary Brands commented, “After acquiring the exclusive master franchisee rights for Subway, we are very proud and excited to acquire F&H.

F&H owns the affordable Fresh and Honest coffee brand and has the exclusive rights for the premium Lavazza brand. Leveraging these strong brands, F&H’s manufacturing capability, and our strong leadership team with experience of building large F&B businesses in India, we look forward to making Lavazza and Fresh and Honest the beverage of choice for Indians through distribution, product leadership, partnerships and enhanced presence across channels and consumption opportunities.”

Dev Amritesh joined Culinary Brands earlier this year, from Compass Group in India, part of Compass PLC, where he was the Managing Director – India. Prior to this, Dev worked with leading consumer companies including Whirlpool, Cadbury, and Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. (JFL). In his last role at JFL, Dev was the President and Chief Business officer of Domino’s Pizza India and Sri Lanka. “Lavazza Group has been operating in India for the last 15 years.

We believe that such credible and solid local partner will ensure the achievement of the full potential and that Lavazza brand will have an even stronger growth and positioning in the future as India grows its consumption of coffee,” said Antonio Baravalle, CEO of Lavazza Group. In the transaction, Lavazza was assisted by BDA Partners, Desai & Diwanji and Deloitte India.

Culinary Brands, part of the Everstone Group, is an F&B platform to transform and scale mass and mass-premium global brands in India and the sub-continent. It owns the exclusive master franchisee rights for Subway (the largest QSR brand globally) in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and other counties. Culinary Brands also owns exclusive rights to Lavazza brand in India and owns the Fresh & Honest coffee brand. Lavazza, founded in Turin in 1895, has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations. Today the Group is one of the leading players on the global coffee scene, with turnover of over EUR 2.3 billion and a portfolio of top brands that lead their respective markets, such as Lavazza, Carte Noire, Merrild and Kicking Horse. It is active in all business sectors and has operations in 140 markets, with 9 manufacturing plants in 6 countries and over 4,200 collaborators all over the world.

MUMBAI, India, Dec. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Culinary Brands (CB), part of Everstone Group, signed an exclusive license for the premium Lavazza brand in India.

CB also acquired from Lavazza Group a significant majority stake in Fresh and Honest Café Limited (F&H), the owners of the manufacturing facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh (with a capacity of 9,000 tons per annum) and of the affordable ‘Fresh and Honest’ coffee brand. CB is the exclusive Master Franchisee of Subway in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

This partnership was a significant step in Subway’s transformation journey and expansion plans globally. Under this exclusive agreement, CB will triple Subway stores in India over 10 years. Dev Amritesh, CEO of Culinary Brands commented, “After acquiring the exclusive master franchisee rights for Subway, we are very proud and excited to acquire F&H. F&H owns the affordable Fresh and Honest coffee brand and has the exclusive rights for the premium Lavazza brand.

Leveraging these strong brands, F&H’s manufacturing capability, and our strong leadership team with experience of building large F&B businesses in India, we look forward to making Lavazza and Fresh and Honest the beverage of choice for Indians through distribution, product leadership, partnerships and enhanced presence across channels and consumption opportunities.” Dev Amritesh joined Culinary Brands earlier this year, from Compass Group in India, part of Compass PLC, where he was the Managing Director – India.

Prior to this, Dev worked with leading consumer companies including Whirlpool, Cadbury, and Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. (JFL). In his last role at JFL, Dev was the President and Chief Business officer of Domino’s Pizza India and Sri Lanka. “Lavazza Group has been operating in India for the last 15 years.

We believe that such credible and solid local partner will ensure the achievement of the full potential and that Lavazza brand will have an even stronger growth and positioning in the future as India grows its consumption of coffee,” said Antonio Baravalle, CEO of Lavazza Group. In the transaction, Lavazza was assisted by BDA Partners, Desai & Diwanji and Deloitte India.

About Culinary Brands Culinary Brands, part of the Everstone Group, is a F&B platform to transform and scale mass and mass-premium global brands in India and the sub-continent. It owns the exclusive master franchisee rights for Subway (the largest QSR brand globally) in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and other counties.

Culinary Brands also owns exclusive rights to Lavazza brand in India and owns the Fresh & Honest coffee brand. About Lavazza Group Lavazza, founded in Turin in 1895, has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations.

Today the Group is one of the leading players on the global coffee scene, with turnover of over € 2.3 billion and a portfolio of top brands that lead their respective markets, such as Lavazza, Carte Noire, Merrild and Kicking Horse.

It is active in all business sectors and has operations in 140 markets, with 9 manufacturing plants in 6 countries and over 4,200 collaborators all over the world.

Lavazza was established in Turin, Italy, in 1895, by the family of the same name who have seen the chronology and consumption of coffee and cafes over the last 120-plus years. When the café culture – a mainstay of Europe, the Middle East, South America – came to India, the concept was subsumed by restaurants.

And, even before the company formally established its presence in India by tying up with Barista and Fresh & Honest Coffee in 2007, they were working with local farmers here to source their main product.

“After Lavazza sold its stake in Barista in India, it has gone back to being a supplier of quality coffee beans, as well as machines and accoutrements. When we supply products, we also offer free tutorials on how to make a good cup of coffee,”.