Starbucks brews plans to take Indian Expresso cuppa overseas

The Indian Expresso, sourced and roasted in India, may soon travel across coffee chain Starbucks’ global network. Having completed almost a year in the country, the joint venture company Tata Starbucks is now looking at promoting some of its India sourced Arabica beans from Tata Coffee plantations.

“The Indian Expresso is the hallmark at our stores. As the business here expands, we could look at taking the single-origin coffee and country-specific blends to neighbouring countries. There are opportunities in taking these Indian blends. In the past, we have taken country-specific blends across the network to Malaysia and China,” said Avani Davda, CEO, Tata Starbucks.

Tata Global Beverages recently decided to take its natural mineral water brand Himalayan to Singapore. More India-based products are set to ride on the Starbucks network that spreads across 62 countries.

The joint venture could also look at entering the consumer products goods (CPG) business vertical, as it has in the US, under the Starbucks brand. Already ready-to-drink Starbucks coffees are available at several modern trade outlets. There are chances of formalising this business in the Indian market.

“In the US market, we entered grocery sales after crossing 10,000 stores. CPG is a growth platform for Starbucks and is present across the US, Japan and parts of China. However, it is not purely like the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) category. The brand is already established in cafes across the US and it is easier to make that transition. While there is enormous potential for this business in India, both in-home and out of home, it will be a journey in small steps,” said Davda.

Starbucks already sells its merchandise and coffee powder brand Via at its stores. Building on its food menus is also a priority, as the company feels food strikes a balance between its local and international offerings. A new introduction is the Pumpkin Spice latte.

“Starbucks’ philosophy has been to maintain a fine balance between local food and the classic offerings available internationally. For every new market, there would be food offerings unique to that city, and they would be sourced locally. After all, it is food which will complement our coffees,” she said.

The coffee chain sources its food from group company Taj Stats, which also supplies to other international chains such as UK’s Costa Coffee.

Not bogged down by slowdown pressures, Starbucks has been busy extending its cafes beyond big metros to smaller cities such as Pune, and has decided not to appoint franchises unlike its competitors.

“We do not see any alarming trend as yet and the slowdown is more of a business cycle. Being young and less than a year old, we do have our loyal consumers patronising us. Pune is an attractive market and retail is about going beyond the metros. The next place where Starbucks could go would be to places such as Hyderabad and Bangalore,” added Davda.

purvita@thehindu.co.in

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