Food Square has expanded beyond Mumbai for the first time with the opening of its 9,000-square-foot gourmet food and lifestyle store in Ahmedabad. Located at Hetdiv Square, behind Rajpath Club on Sindhubhavan Road in Bodakdev, the new outlet combines premium grocery retail, imported food products, fresh produce, dining, gifting and interactive food experiences under one roof.
Mumbai-based gourmet retail brand Food Square has entered the Gujarat market with its new Ahmedabad store, marking an important step in the company's expansion strategy. The new outlet is designed not simply as a supermarket, but as an experiential food destination where customers can shop for specialty ingredients, discover international products, explore curated food concepts and eat at the same location.
The Ahmedabad store is spread across 9,000 sq ft and represents Food Square's first physical expansion outside Mumbai. The company currently has stores in Mumbai, including locations in Santacruz and Worli. Its entry into Ahmedabad comes as the brand looks to take its premium food retail format to other Indian cities.
Food Square Ahmedabad: What Customers Can Expect
The new Food Square outlet brings together several elements that are usually found separately. Customers can shop for international groceries and specialty ingredients, pick up fresh produce, explore premium bakery products and cheeses, and also access food and gifting experiences within the same store.
The store's product assortment includes global pantry staples, imported beverages, specialty ingredients and premium food products. Among the products highlighted for the Ahmedabad launch are Graza olive oil, Olipop sodas and caviar, along with a selection of cheeses imported from Switzerland and Italy. The store also carries fresh fruits and vegetables, bakery products and other gourmet categories.
This focus on products that are not easily found through conventional grocery channels is one of the key differences in Food Square's retail proposition. Instead of treating grocery shopping purely as a convenience-led activity, the brand is positioning its stores around discovery, allowing customers to find unfamiliar international ingredients and premium products alongside everyday food categories.
Cheese Corner, Chopping Board and In-House Bakery
One of the more distinctive aspects of the Ahmedabad outlet is its focus on interactive services.
The store features a Cheese Corner, where customers can create personalized cheese boards with guidance from experts. Rather than simply purchasing packaged cheese, shoppers can use the space to explore different varieties and build a selection suited to their preferences or occasions.
Another offering is the Chopping Board, a service designed around convenience and freshness. It provides freshly chopped fruits and vegetables as well as made-to-order preparations such as guacamole. This brings an element of food preparation into the retail experience and allows customers to purchase ingredients in a more ready-to-use format.
The Ahmedabad store also houses Breadsmith, Food Square's in-house bakery. It offers freshly baked breads and artisanal baked products, adding another food-service element to the grocery environment.
These features are significant because they show how Food Square is attempting to move beyond the traditional supermarket format. The company is combining retail with preparation, tasting, dining and personalized services to create a destination where customers can spend time rather than simply make a quick grocery purchase.
Mumbai Food Brands Make Their Ahmedabad Debut
Food Square is also using the Ahmedabad launch to introduce some Mumbai-based food brands to the city.
The new store brings Naked Coffee and Paleoo Bakes to Ahmedabad for the first time. Their presence adds a café and bakery-oriented dimension to the outlet while giving Ahmedabad consumers access to brands that have been associated with Mumbai's contemporary food scene.
The strategy fits into Food Square's larger approach of combining grocery products with food experiences. Its official platform describes the Food Square Café as a place where dishes are prepared using products sourced through the store, while its wider experience offering includes a cooking studio, brand launches, catering and other food-focused activities.
Why Ahmedabad Was Chosen for Food Square's First Expansion
Ahmedabad is not Food Square's first choice by accident. The company has positioned the city as a natural next market because of its established food culture and increasing interest in global culinary trends.
Lalit Jhawar, Co-Founder and CEO of Food Square, said the company saw a strong alignment between Ahmedabad's food culture and its own approach to creating a space where consumers can discover global ingredients and develop a deeper connection with food. He described the Ahmedabad launch as the beginning of the company's journey to bring its retail and food experiences to more cities across India.
The choice also reflects a broader change in how premium consumers interact with food. International ingredients, specialty coffee, artisanal bakery products, imported cheeses and curated grocery products are increasingly becoming part of urban food culture. Food Square's model is built around bringing these categories together instead of offering them through separate specialty stores.
From Sustainable Farming to Gourmet Retail
One of the lesser-known aspects of Food Square's story is that the business did not begin with gourmet retail.
The brand was founded by Lalit Jhawar and Mayank Gupta, who have backgrounds in agriculture and sustainable farming. Their farming business, LandCraft Agro, operates under the Trueganic brand and has supplied fresh fruits and vegetables to more than 200 supermarkets and gourmet stores across western and southern India.
According to the company's own account, its farming journey included aquaponic and sustainable soil-based farms across parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. The founders eventually moved into retail after identifying an opportunity to have greater control over how food reaches consumers and how premium produce is presented and experienced.
That background helps explain why Food Square's retail concept places considerable emphasis on fresh produce and the journey of food from sourcing to consumption.
In other words, the Ahmedabad outlet is not simply an expansion of a grocery chain. It is part of a larger farm-to-retail model that the founders have been developing over several years.
Food Square's Mumbai Journey
Food Square entered the organised gourmet retail space in Mumbai with a large flagship store. Its Santacruz location spans more than 25,000 sq ft and was established in a space that had previously housed Foodhall. The company later expanded to Worli.
The scale of the original Mumbai operation was significant for a relatively young gourmet retailer. The flagship store was designed around premium and imported products, alongside an in-house bakery, café and specialised food sections.
The company has previously said that a large proportion of its assortment consists of imported products. A 2024 Financial Express report noted that around 90% to 95% of Food Square's products were imported at the time, with the remainder sourced from Indian suppliers.
The Ahmedabad store is smaller than the flagship Mumbai location, but it retains the same broader philosophy: bringing international food products together with fresh produce, food preparation, dining and personalised services.
A Grocery Store Designed Around Discovery
The biggest difference between Food Square and a conventional supermarket lies in its approach to shopping.
Traditional grocery retail generally revolves around convenience, price and availability. Food Square is attempting to add another layer: discovery.
A customer may enter the store looking for groceries but encounter imported beverages, specialty oils, international cheeses, unusual snacks, premium ingredients or products that are difficult to find elsewhere. The brand's own description of its retail model emphasises rare discoveries, global flavours and curated products.
The Ahmedabad outlet extends that idea through its experiential sections. The Cheese Corner, Chopping Board, bakery and food brands mean the customer journey does not end at the supermarket shelf.
This positioning also places Food Square within India's growing premium and luxury food retail segment, where consumers are increasingly looking for provenance, product quality, convenience and experiences alongside the basic grocery purchase.
What the Ahmedabad Expansion Means for Food Square
The Ahmedabad launch gives Food Square its first presence outside Maharashtra and provides the company with an opportunity to test its experiential retail model in a new market.
The company has indicated that expansion into additional Indian cities is part of its long-term vision, although it has also stressed the importance of building each new location carefully rather than rapidly replicating the format.
The Ahmedabad store therefore serves two purposes. It expands Food Square's geographical footprint while also testing whether the brand's combination of gourmet retail, dining, gifting and food discovery can translate beyond Mumbai.
For Ahmedabad consumers, meanwhile, the outlet adds another destination for imported groceries, specialty ingredients, premium produce and curated food experiences.
Where Is Food Square in Ahmedabad?
Food Square's Ahmedabad outlet is located at Ground Floor, Hetdiv Square, Unit 001, behind Rajpath Club, off Sindhubhavan Road, PRL Colony, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380054. The location is listed on Food Square's official website.
The store's current listing also identifies it as a gourmet grocery destination in the Bodakdev area.
The Bigger Picture
Food Square's entry into Ahmedabad comes at a time when India's food retail market is moving beyond the traditional supermarket model. Consumers in major cities are increasingly exposed to international cuisines and ingredients through restaurants, social media, travel and food creators. Retailers are responding by making speciality and imported products more accessible while creating experiences around them.
Food Square's model takes that shift a step further by bringing grocery shopping, dining, bakery, fresh preparation and gifting together.
Its Ahmedabad launch is therefore more than the opening of another gourmet store. It marks the first stage of Food Square's attempt to take a Mumbai-born food retail concept to a wider Indian audience, while retaining the farm-to-shelf thinking that shaped the business in the first place.
