It must have been his ten-year stint at the stockmarkets that gave him his early lessons
in trading. And also the fact that he comes from a family who has been the largest
exporters in India in their line of trade, Coffee.
Today, he is known all over the nation as the man responsible for opening up the Coffee
Caf� in India and converting the youth into lovers of the brew. A Bangalore boy to the
core, he schooled in Kendriya Vidhyalaya, graduated at MES College, and his post
graduation at Bangalore University.
His chain of ‘Caf'e Coffee Day’ cafes are the hottest hangouts for the youth in the three
major Southern metro’s Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.
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Many sorry imitations have followed. But his brand ‘Caf'e Coffee Day’ remains the leader in the Caf� business. In an exclusive
interview, "Mr.Coffee" R.Murali, Director Caf'e Coffee Day, talks to Online Bangalore on the early days, his expansion plans, and the
nuances of the strange brew. He is keenly awaiting the arrival of Starbucks. The
competition would be interesting, he says.
How was your foray into coffee?
We have been exporting coffee for many years now and are India’s largest exporters of
coffee. Most of the coffee we export are grown on our own plantations. We export 30,000
tons of coffee per year accounting for 14% of the country’s total export and 24% of
Karnataka’s. |
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How is your presence in the domestic market?
We market our own brand of coffee named ‘Coffee Day’, through over 200
coffee points in Bangalore city. These points sell 12 varieties of coffee.
How have you assessed the domestic coffee market?
The future looks very promising. Earlier, all the coffee we drank was either from
home or the office. At home, the women of the house choose any brand whereas the choice of
office coffee was left to the peon or the office boy, in charge of making it. Outside of
this, coffee drinking was restricted to either the 3 rupee ‘Darshini Hotel’ type
filter coffee or the exorbitantly priced coffee available at the 5-star hotels. Both these
types of coffee left much to be desired. The coffee we offer at our cafes are priced in
the middle bracket and is of excellent quality.
What is the unique selling point of your coffee?
The Coffee Day brand of coffee, sold in our coffee points as well as in our Cafes. Is made
to stringent quality standards. Mainly, our advantage is that we grow our own coffee.We
have also started buying directly from planters who grow it at the higher altitudes. Also
we are the only people who have an exclusive lab for testing and approving the quality of
coffee that we sell. And most of the coffee reaches our outlets not later than the third
day from roasting. This ensures that the coffee retains it freshness and flavour that is
so important in brewing a good cup. Today we cater to 50,000 customers a week in our
cafes. Though the international cafes have a repeat customer average of 15 times a month,
we have customers who frequent us thrice a day.
When was the first Cafe Coffee Day opened?
In the year1996, on Brigade Road. Strangely, we opened it as an Internet Caf�. In fact it
was one of the first as the Internet craze was just starting up. We were also selling our
varieties of coffee. Then I thought why not try out the concept of selling brewed coffee
in the premises. We did a trial run, it succeeded and I guess we haven’t looked back.
So, you see the Caf� concept was not a planned one. It just happened.
How many outlets do you have now?
We have 14 outlets at present. Ten in Bangalore and 2 each in Chennai and Hyderabad.
Any plans to expand your network in the near future?
Yes. We hope to grow to 25 cafes by April 2001 and open Coffee Day Cafes in the West and
North Zone. We have tied up with Music World chain of stores, to open cafes in their
premises throughout India and also to open outlets in the Airports of Bangalore, Chennai
and Hyderabad.
Any new additions to your menu?
Yes. We plan to focus on Cold Coffees. Our normal concept of cold coffee is that it is
coffee cooled down. We hope to cash in on this new area with a whole new range of cold
coffee exclusively brewed and available in mocktail combinations.
Do you have plans to co-brand with any of the major soft drink players?
No. I believe in building and developing our own brand.
How has the arrival of a foreign multinational coffee chain like
‘Qwickys’ affected you?
As far as I am aware no foreign Multinational Coffee chain has opened in India.
‘Qwicky’s’ is owned by an Indian, though they may have had a foreign
consultant. We believe there is room for everybody. In fact, we have a plan to open 25
cafes in Bangalore and we feel that the city has a potential for 100 cafes. The potential
is immense. For e.g. in a city like Singapore, there are over 40 different cafes in a
single street including major players like Starbucks, Tealeaf etc.
We hear that Starbucks is coming to India?
So have I. They are a foreign Chain and we look forward to the competition. It should be
interesting. |
| By Monu Surendran |
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