by the 1990s, the saravana bhavan chain spread throughout neighbourhoods in chennai. in 2000, saravana bhavan opened its first branch outside india, opening a franchise in dubai, with a large number of indian expatriates. it eventually expanded to paris, frankfurt, london, new york city, dallas, toronto, stockholm, doha and auckland. while the restaurants gained popularity among non-indians, they mostly target the south asian expatriate population. they are sometimes referred to as "canteen-like joints are strictly aimed at indian expatriates missing a taste of home". it is considered to be a high volume, low margin venture which is labour-intensive. saravana bhavan sends workers from india to work in their foreign branches. the overseas outlets are run by franchisees.