The Hindu Business Line : Café Coffee Day gears up to take on Starbucks

Bangalore, July 16 Café Coffee Day (CCD) is gearing up to take on the global giant Starbucks in India, even while charting out aggressive plans for enhancing its overseas presence.

“We don’t underestimate them,” said Mr V.G. Siddartha, Chairman, The Amalgamated Bean Trading Company Ltd, while commenting on his company’s preparedness to compete with Starbucks, which is eyeing an entry into India.

“700 café-outlets across the country would be an ideal number to take on Starbucks,” Mr Siddartha told visiting journalists at his Devadarshini Estate near Balehonnur recently.

CCD, the division of ABTCL, has some 440 outlets at present both in India and overseas, mainly in Vienna and Pakistan. “We plan to have a total of over 2,000 outlets over the next four-and-half years,” Mr Siddartha said adding “coffee retailing was poised for interesting times over the next 10 years.” CCD aims to be among the top-three global coffee giants over the next five years and having a presence in some 2,000 locations across 65 countries, would help the company achieve that, Mr Siddartha added.

CCD is adding some 20 outlets every month and hopes to touch the 750-mark by June 2008.

The company has two outlets each in Vienna, Austria and in Karachi. “We are looking at expanding in these countries,” he said.

The company is also looking at Germanic speaking countries in Europe such as Switzerland, Germany and Czechoslovakia to expand its operations through its overseas outfit, the Cyprus-registered Café Coffee Day International.

Back home, CCD has seen good success in Guwahati, Jammu and Katra among other places. “We are planning to open about three outlets in Kashmir,” Mr Siddartha said. While CCD has a presence in over 80 cities across the country, majority of its outlets are in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi.

CCD is setting up a captive furniture plant in Chikmagalur to meet its café expansion requirements, Mr Siddartha said.