Barista brews overseas plans

Sankar Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, Dec. 5

BARISTA, the chain of speciality coffee bars, is mulling a foray into overseas markets in addition to a venture into new formats with its `off premises' business division. Speaking at the inauguration of the Barista Espresso Bar at the Piano Lounge in Chennai's Taj Coromandel hotel, Mr Sandeep Vyas, Head-Marketing, Barista Coffee Co Ltd, said that the company was looking at entering markets in South Asia, South East Asia and Europe.

Mr Vyas told Business Line that the company was also looking at setting up its espresso bars in what it describes as "off premises" locations such as hotels and office complexes. Declaring that this was a "huge business area", Mr Vyas added that the Barista has even set up a separate Strategic Business Unit for the purpose. The company already has one such espresso bar at an office complex in New Delhi, in addition to a presence at the Taj Mahal hotels in New Delhi and Mumbai, he said. Barista will shortly be launching an espresso bar at ICICI's office complex in Mumbai and also at the Cidade de Goa hotel, Mr Vyas added.

He also said that the company was in discussions with several other hotel groups about the possibility of setting up outlets within these hotels. Mr Vyas added that Barista was also looking at the possibility of partnering with airlines and setting up its espresso bars in airports. These `off premises' bars would have menus that featured single origin coffees such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, reputed to be the most expensive coffee in the world, Mr Vyas said.

Mr Rajiv Narain, General Manager, Taj Coromandel, said the partnership with Barista would help in promoting the hotel's Piano Lounge and would form part of the Taj group's overall strategy for the luxury division. Barista, would also be opening such espresso bars in other Taj properties in New Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, he added. Mr Narain said that the Taj and Barista were working on a revenue sharing model for this venture.

Commenting on Barista's performance over the last several months, Mr Vyas said the company had achieved cash break even at the store level. The chain currently has 60 stores in nine cities and was on track to achieving its target of 75 stores by the end of the current financial year, he added.

Pic.: Mr Rajiv Narain (Left ) General Manager, Taj Coromandel, and Mr Sandeep Vyas, Head - Marketing , Barista Coffee Co Ltd. at the launch of the Barista Espresso bar at hotel Taj Coromandel.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh