Ashok Bhasin has ben apointed managing director of the Mumbai-based Wadhawan Food Retail Pvt Ltd, which operates the Spinach chain of food and grocery stores.

Part of the Wadhawan Group, Wadhawan Food Retail currently operates 200 food and grocery (F&G) stores and six home décor stores across India has drawn up a Rs1,400-crore expansion plan.

Promoted by the Kapil Wadhawan-led Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd, India's second-largest housing finance company in the private sector, Wadhawan Food Retail is planning a public offer by mid-2009. Dewan Housing has a 19.9-per cent stake in Wadhawan Food Retail.

Bhasin will be responsible for designing business plans, strategy, and leading the overall operations across all brands under the WFRL umbrella which includes Spinach, Sabka Bazaar, Smart, and Sangam Direct and also future expansions across all formats.

Bhasin comes on board backed with experience in diverse roles in companies like Lakme, Reckitt Benckiser (known as Reckitt & Colman earlier), vice president Whirlpool India.

He returns to India from his last assignement in the US as global director Whirlpool Corporation, USA.

Wadhawan Food Retail Pvt. Ltd (WFRL) launched its first store in March 2006 and today the company has presence in 96 locations. Spinach, the retail food and grocery segment, currently operates stores in Maharashtra, while in Northern India it has its acquired chain 'Sabka Bazaar'. The company also acquired the non-store format direct-to-home delivery business 'Sangam Direct' from Unilever India.

In Southern India, the company has the 'Smart Retail', a chain of F&G stores located in Bangalore. In addition, the company has a management contract with the Maratha chain of co-operative stores to operate its stores in Maharashtra. 

With the current acquisitions and collaborations, WFRL today has a presence in 3 major cities and several other small towns of the country with 200 stores.

The stores are positioned as neighbourhood community stores catering to customer needs depending on the locality offering convenience of shopping for family's daily need in F & G and personal care categories for the households within area of 1.5 to 2 kms radius. The stores offers convenience of buying Grocery Items, Non–Vegetarian Food, Fruits & Vegetables, FMCG and Bakery products under one roof

Over the next 4 years, WFRL plans to operate 1500 stores under these brands across India with an investment of Rs. 1500 crore (US $ 375 million).