Stand at the Poonamallee bus stand at 6 in the evening and watch what happens: buses emptying out, college kids cutting through Trunk Road, families walking back from the tank after a visit to Varadaraja Perumal temple. Everyone is moving through, and almost nobody stops for a proper dessert. We're looking for someone from Poonamallee who already knows this crowd to open a Tasty Nation here.
Poonamallee isn't a stop anymore, it's a destination
Ask anyone in Chennai what Poonamallee means to them and they'll say "the bypass" or "the junction before Vellore/Bangalore." That's true, but it's only half the story now. New apartments are coming up all along the bypass towards Nazarathpettai and the metro line, Trunk Road is packed with engineering colleges, and families who moved here for the lower rent are staying for good. You know the feeling when a place used to be a pass-through and now it's actually home? That's Poonamallee today. The old fort is long gone, the hospital stands where it used to be, but the town around it has only gotten busier — more buses, more bikes, more people with somewhere to be in the evening and fifteen minutes to spare for something sweet.
Who's actually walking around in the evening
Three different crowds overlap here and none of them are being looked after properly. There's the student crowd — Panimalar alone has over eleven thousand students on Trunk Road, and Apollo, Jaya and Sri Ramachandra add a few thousand more between them, all pouring out around 4-5pm looking for somewhere to sit before the bus or bike ride home. There's the commuter crowd on the bypass — people working in Ambattur's industrial belt or the IT offices along Mount Poonamallee Road, or driving in from Avadi, who pass through Poonamallee twice a day and would happily stop if there was a reason to. And there's the family crowd around the temple tank and the bus stand market streets, out for groceries or a Sunday walk, who still go all the way to Porur or Vadapalani for a proper dessert outing because there isn't one here. Desserts aren't a once-in-a-while thing for any of these three groups — a milkshake after exams, a waffle on a Sunday evening, a sundae for a birthday — it's just what people reach for, the same way they'd grab tea.
What the sweet shops here are actually telling you
We checked what's already running in Poonamallee, and the pattern is clear. The sweets-and-snacks shops near the bus stand and along Trunk Road pull in thousands of Google reviews between them, at ratings most shops would envy — that's not small-shop traffic, that's a town that eats a lot of sweets. But every one of them is a bakery or a sweets-and-snacks counter selling cakes, murukku and halwa — none are doing waffles, thickshakes, boba shakes or sundaes as their main business. The handful of waffle and bubble tea cafes nearby sit towards Thiruverkadu, not actually in Poonamallee, and not easy to walk to from the bus stand or the college stretch. So the demand for sweet things is clearly here — thousands of reviews' worth — but nobody local is running a full modern dessert counter. That's the gap.
Where exactly we'd want to be
A few stretches of Poonamallee stood out to us as the places with the right crowd walking past every single day.
- Poonamallee Bus Stand & Sannadhi Street (standalone outlet): Commuters changing buses, evening shoppers on Nambi Street and Sannadhi Street, families walking from the temple tank. Highest and steadiest footfall in Poonamallee all day, with existing sweets shops proving people already stop here to buy something sweet
- Trunk Road college stretch, Varadharajapuram (standalone outlet): 11,000+ Panimalar students plus Apollo, Jaya and Sri Ramachandra students and staff, out between 4-6pm. Dense student population on one road with almost nowhere nearby built for an after-class hangout
- Poonamallee Bypass near Nazarathpettai (mall/food-court counter): Bypass commuters driving towards Avadi, Ambattur and the IT corridor, residents of the new apartments coming up along this stretch. Growing resident base and drive-through commuter traffic, suited to a compact counter in a shopping or food-court setup
- Karayanchavadi, towards Porur (standalone outlet): Young families from newer gated communities, shoppers around VKM Plaza and the Trunk Road extension. A newer residential pocket where families currently drive towards Porur for a dessert outing
Counter at the bus stand, or a proper outlet near the colleges
Tasty Nation runs two formats and both would fit different parts of Poonamallee. A standalone outlet — the way our first outlet at Kay Food Street, Pallikaranai, has run since December 2023 — makes sense near the bus stand or along the college stretch, where people are walking and looking for somewhere to sit. A mall or food-court style counter — like our Vivira Mall outlet on OMR — is the lighter-footprint option, better suited if you've got a spot inside a shopping complex or food court closer to the bypass. Which one fits depends on the exact site you can get, and that's exactly what the discovery call and site evaluation are for.
Who we're hoping finds this page
- Someone who actually knows Poonamallee — which street gets crowded at 7pm, which side of the bus stand has the footfall, not someone reading it off a map
- Someone who can be at the counter or close by every single day, not running it from a distance
- Someone who genuinely likes talking to people — students, families, the regular evening crowd
- Someone with a site in mind, or a serious plan to find one, along Trunk Road, the bypass, or near the bus stand
- Someone willing to follow our recipes and standards exactly as they're taught — no previous food, kitchen or business experience needed, we're not expecting that from you
What you'd get from us
You don't need to have run a shop before. Every recipe and every process is documented and taught hands-on at our Chennai outlets, and that training takes just two days — after that, you or whoever's running your counter is ready. We help with ingredient sourcing and marketing materials too, the same support we use for our own two outlets, extended to yours. Food waste is one of the biggest problems in the food business, and a Tasty Nation outlet has almost none — one less headache to worry about. The steps from here are simple: you enquire, we get on a call, we look at your site together, then we set up and train you.
Questions about a franchise in Poonamallee
Is Poonamallee too close to Chennai city for its own franchise outlet?
No — it's about 20-21 km and roughly a 20-minute drive from central Chennai, close enough to be part of the city's daily commute but far enough that people here aren't driving into town just for dessert.
Does the outlet have to be right next to the bus stand?
No. The bus stand area, the Trunk Road college stretch, the bypass near Nazarathpettai and Karayanchavadi all have a crowd worth building around — we'll figure out the best fit for your site on the discovery call.
I've never run a food business. Can I still apply?
Yes. No previous food, kitchen or business experience is needed — training takes just two days at our Chennai outlets and covers every recipe and process.
Is there already too much competition for desserts in Poonamallee?
The sweets and bakery shops here do heavy business, which shows people are already spending on something sweet regularly — but none of them run a waffle, thickshake, boba or sundae menu, which is the gap we'd be filling.
Would a mall-counter or a standalone outlet work better here?
Both formats exist and run today — a standalone suits the bus stand or college stretch, a compact food-court counter suits a mall or shopping-complex spot near the bypass. Investment and site details are discussed on the call.
Who we are
We are Tasty Nation, a 100% vegetarian dessert brand from Chennai. Belgian waffles, thickshakes, sundaes, boba shakes, pancakes, brownies and hot chocolate: 85+ items on one menu. We opened at Kay Food Street, Pallikaranai in December 2023, and today we also run a food-court counter at Vivira Mall on OMR. Same recipes, two very different formats, so we can tell you honestly what each one is like to run. Tasty Nation® is a registered trademark (Licence No. 6368235). More about our franchise programme · see the menu.
Why a dessert outlet, and why you can do it
- People love sweet desserts. A waffle or a thickshake is an everyday treat for every age in Poonamallee, not something saved for a festival.
- Almost no waste. Food waste is one of the biggest problems in the food business. A Tasty Nation outlet has almost none.
- Just 2 days of training. You, or anyone you hire, can start working after two days with us. No previous food, kitchen or business experience needed.
See our outlets
Real moments from our Chennai outlets, straight from @tastynation.in.
How it works
- Message us on WhatsApp with your name and the area you have in mind in Poonamallee.
- A one-to-one call: we walk you through formats, investment and support, and get to know you.
- Site visit in Poonamallee: we look at your proposed location together.
- Setup and 2-day training: store design, equipment, then two days of hands-on training at our Chennai outlets. No experience needed.
Book a one-to-one discussion
Register on WhatsApp with your name and the area you have in mind in Poonamallee. Our franchise team will call you at a time that suits you to talk through formats, investment and support, one to one. Register on WhatsApp.
Also looking for partners nearby: Avadi, Tiruvallur, Sriperumbudur, Tambaram. All Tamil Nadu cities.