A lot can
happen over a cup of coffee
By Harish Bijoor
The year was 1996. A shy and
aggressive (and that’s not an oxymoron in the case of this guy) V G Siddhartha
took his first baby steps in the world of Café retail. Into the world of what
we now call the fine coffee Café chain in India.
Siddhartha, fresh from his
success in the wonderland of investment, took the logical backward integration
story forward into the realm of the consumer.
The idea was a simple one. Indian
coffee was just not getting its due in International markets. At least in terms
of price. Whatever was grown was exported at large. A miniscule 15% of output
found its way into the domestic market, and the rest went out of the country as
commodity exports. Blind in its identity, with most grades being used as
fillers in dominant blends of the world. If you were to do a composition
analysis of the world’s coffee, Indian coffee contributed just about 2.3 per
cent of the world output, and this negligible quantity went out at prices that
did not deliver great margins to the coffee planter at large.
India’s coffee exports were
largely at the mercy of paper trading, at the mercy of volatile International
price fluctuations and spoke of no brand to boast of.
Siddhartha took a look at his
family’s holdings in terms of coffee estates and decided one fine day to step
into the world of the Café as a business proposition for India. The idea was to
house Indian coffee (for a start) into value-added cups of steaming Cappuccinos
and Espressos and Lattes and more, served out of nice experience led Cafes.
Café Coffee Day was born.
The first Café kicked off in 1996
from a nice-little location on the bustling Brigade Road of Bangalore. This was
in many ways India’s first Café. The year was a Cyber year, and this was a
Cyber-café to boot, with a whole host of bulky desktops offering e-mail and
Internet access to those who desired. At Rs. 40 per hour, with a cup of
cappuccino thrown in as well!
Café Coffee Day in many ways
worked its way through the early years of coffee market liberalization. In many
ways it was the first to enter the branded market operations with its signature
Café brand. The first and the most enduring effort at large.
The coffee planter was free to
sell his coffee the way he wished to, all of a sudden. The coffee planter had
strived for this status for many long years. The terminology at large was FSQ (Free
Sale Quota)! For the first time, liberalization was biting into the coffee
economy, hitherto controlled by the Coffee Board of India (under the auspices
of the Union Ministry of Commerce).
Siddhartha kicked off a concept
in India. A concept that said that the young people of the country want a third
place away from home and office or home and school or home and college. This
third place was to be a healthy place to be. A no-alcohol place where parents
would be ok to have their kids congregate at. A third-place where one could be
who one really is! With delicious coffee and even more delicious eats to boot.
The rest is history. Café Coffee
Day is today the largest chain of Cafes in the country with 1152 stores open
across 178 cities with an employee strength of 7000 plus. And counting.
If you ask me to describe the
brand crisply. CCD is young, robust, growing, a friendly place to be, and most
importantly represents the aspirations of a young India that is progressive, hungry,
thirsty and achievement oriented.
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Integrity declaration: CCD is a brand close to my heart. Consider my
view with a pinch, but not a shovel of salt.
Harish Bijoor is a Brand-expert & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.
Follow him on
Twitter.com/harishbijoor
Mail:
harihsbijoor@hotmail.com
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