Planning to open two more stores in the city by year-end. Coorg coffee on menu.

Coorg and Chikmagalur will soon find a mention in Starbucks stores worldwide.

The US coffee chain is planning to sell arabica coffee sourced from the estates of Coorg and Chikmagalur in its global stores.

Called India Estates Blend, this medium roast coffee was launched last month to be sold in packages of 250 gms at the 30 Starbucks stores in Mumbai, Pune, NCR and Bangalore.
It is sourced, roasted and packaged in India.

John Culver, group president, Starbucks China and Asia Pacific, channel development and emerging brands, says the company would “take this Indian coffee to our 17,000 stores globally.”

Explaining that Starbucks is evaluating plans to make India Estates Blend available globally, Culver says they source coffee from 30 countries.

“Over the last year, we discovered there is very high quality arabica available in India. So it will be good to take India coffee, blend it with other coffees, and sell in the global stores.”

Operational through a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Global Beverages and Seattle-based Starbucks Corporation, Tata Starbucks has also set up a coffee roasting and packaging plant at Kushalnagar in Coorg with a capacity to produce 375 metric tonnes.

India Estates Blend is the second blend brought out by the firm after the India Espresso Roast, that is sold at their outlets across India.

Culver wants India to be one of the top 5 markets for Starbucks globally. Speaking during the launch of the group’s flagship outlet in Bangalore, Culver says Bangalore reflects “our commitment to expand across India.”

Entering India in October 2012, the company operates 29 other stores across NCR, Mumbai and Pune.

Starbucks is planning two more stores in Bangalore before December-end, at Phoenix Market City and Orion Mall. The management believes they can build a ritual of Starbucks in the daily lives of Indians.

Brand consultants feel despite the cluttering in the market in Bangalore, which is the home for Cafe Coffee Day, Starbucks will establish its niche, simply on the basis of its image.

A cuppa numbers
India is a leading exporter of coffee. In the coffee year October 2012-September 2013, India exported 3 lakh tonnes of coffee, as per the Coffee Board. The US and EU are main markets for Indian coffee.

The per capita consumption of coffee in India is low, at 90 grams. In Brazil, another leading coffee exporter, per capita consumption is 6 kg, as per data by Care Research.

The organised cafe market across India boasted sales of Rs 1,246 crore in 2012, and is expected to touch Rs 2, 222 crore by 2017, as per consulting firm Technopak.

The number of cafes in the country will grow from 1,950 last year, to 2,900 by 2017.

Price of coffee minus taxes, can range from Rs 70-80 for a simple cappuccino or latte, to over Rs 180-200 for flavours like hazelnut, or cinnamon, or caramel.

Currently, Cafe Coffee Day is the leading player with 1,498 outlets across India. It has plans of reaching 2,000 outlets by 2015.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by DNA Correspondent, Place:Bangalore, Agency:DNA / Saturday, November 23rd, 2013

New York :
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has voiced his admiration for industrialist Ratan Tata’s “grace” and wisdom, saying he was moved by the business icon’s words during the launch of the coffee chain’s flagship store in Mumbai last year.

“At the celebratory dinner the night of the Mumbai (store’s) opening, Ratan Tata offered a toast that really moved me,” Schultz writes in an essay in the book ‘Reimagining India: Unlocking The Potential of Asia’s Next Superpower’, edited by global consulting firm McKinsey.

Schultz recalls that while describing Starbucks’ India launch and Tata’s remarks at the celebrations later to a gathering of his company officials in the US, he even began to cry and was overpowered by emotion.

“A few weeks after returning from the opening of our Mumbai store, we held one of our big open forum meetings where we get the entire company together. And as I tried to describe that moment for everyone, something came over me. I started to cry. It just hit me emotionally.

“In India, we’d had a chance to do something extraordinary, something truly world class. And I am excited that we have a chance to grow and give back in a land where so much opportunity lies ahead and to contribute to making it a little better place than the one we found,” Schultz said.

Tata’s remarks on the night of the Mumbai opening were “perfect and so heartfelt,” Schultz said in the essay, adding that he considers Tata to be a “man with so much grace.

“I could sit and listen to Ratan Tata for days on end. He has so much wisdom and insight not only about India but about the world,” he said.

The book is a compilation of over 60 essays on India’s challenges and opportunities written by CEOs, academicians, economists and historians, including Wipro chief Azim Premji, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and India’s chess legend Viswanathan Anand.

In his toast, Tata had said in his “dry, understated way” that the Tata group has had a bit of success in the various endeavours it has undertaken over the years.

“We have partnered with some good global companies. But I have never had the kind of recognition I have received from this relationship with Starbucks. People I have never met stop me on the street just to congratulate me.

“And what I have learnt from this relationship is that Starbucks is far more than just a company that sells coffee,” Tata had said.

Schultz said his company has developed an “incredible relationship” with the Tata organisation and he cannot imagine bringing Starbucks to India without the assistance it has received from Tata.

Schultz also said India is the only major market in the world where Starbucks has been able to source and roast coffee beans locally.

The company worked with Tata officials on an India-only espresso roast designed specifically for the Indian market.

Schultz said people in Starbucks’ coffee department were not “exactly thrilled” when he told them he was looking at a different approach to sourcing coffee and roasting process under the partnership with Tata for India.

“They were more sceptical when I said we want to create a different blend of coffee for India,” he said, adding that his team was incredulous when he said the India blend was not going to be roasted by the Starbucks team, a first in Starbucks’ 42-year history.

Schultz said to get the blend he wanted for India, “we’d have to share with Tata some of the family jewels — roasting secrets we’ve perfected over four decades and guarded very closely.

“It was a real test of our trust in our new partner,” he said, adding that teaming with Tata to come up with an Indian roast was a huge step for Starbucks.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Companies / by PTI / New York – November 19th, 2013

Interview with Chairman, Coffee Board

After coffee producers in Brazil and Vietnam used mechanisation and genetically improved plants to increase crop yields, Indian coffee growers are trying to replicate their success. However, many allege the Indian government has not provided adequate incentives to increase crop yields or protect these from diseases such as the white stem borer. On the sidelines of the UPASI-KPA Coffee conference in Bangalore, Jawaid Akhtar, chairman of the Coffee Board, spoke to Antonita Madonna on these allegations and on the focus of the commerce ministry. Edited excerpts:

Growers allege, unlike their counterparts in Brazil, they have not been provided adequate incentives. How would the Coffee Board address that?

Brazil and India cannot be compared so easily. The methods used by them cannot be correlated with India’s, as the plantations in the two are very different. In Brazil, the higher crop yield is not as much the result of incentivisation as of the use of new varieties, new agronomical practices, etc. Production in India is increasing, but at a very slow pace due to several constraints. The drastic difference between the progress in India and in Vietnam and Brazil is because the soil is less conducive here. Vietnam and Brazil have volcanic soil. In India, coffee is not grown under direct sun, but under the cover of trees. So, productivity suffers, but quality increases.

Second, coffee growers have to show more dynamism. They have to put in more effort and use better inputs. What it requires is more water, more use of agrochemicals, etc. The Board is regularly working on research. We also disseminate the findings of these studies among growers. It is an ongoing programme.

What research and development is the Board doing?

We are working on finding new varieties that are high-yielding, pest- and drought-resistant.

Some three-four varieties are in the pipeline on the arabica side, as problems, including the white stem borer, are more prevalent in arabica. We had also introduced a variety of arabica coffee four years before. Robusta, on the other hand, is yielding in some places even after 80 years.

To replicate the success in Brazil here, growers have been seeking the Board’s help in research and tools. Is the Board working on that, too?

The mechanisation in Brazil cannot be correlated with that in India because in Brazil, there is no shade. Also, unlike the undulating terrain of the Western Ghats in India, the land in Brazil is plain.

The 20-ft high harvester they use in Brazil cannot be used in India, as coffee does not grow in the open here. Our plantations are different.

How is the Coffee Board encouraging more acreage for coffee?

We have seen production rising in non-traditional areas, but in traditional areas (Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu), it is not. Now, we have identified more areas where coffee production can be increased and are trying to include that in the 12th Plan.

With a depreciating rupee, is the board planning to increase exports?

There are schemes for exports already. But you can export more only if there is more production. We export 70 per cent of whatever is produced. But we offer incentives for areas to which much coffee doesn’t find its way, despite these being good markets for coffee. For instance, in the 11th Plan, we had five countries—the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Now, in the next Plan, we will include other markets such as South Korea and two other countries. We are in discussions with other countries as well.

We are also trying to promote brand-building. So, we’ll give incentives to export value-added coffee in retail packs. The value-add maybe anything from roasting green beans or making instant coffee. Our instant coffee market is very robust. Almost all the value-added coffee that goes from India is instant coffee. Now, we’re the second-largest producer of instant coffee, after Brazil.

Any plan to introduce the Coffee Board’s own brands?

No, there is no such plan. All these plans were shelved 20 years ago and there are no plans to revive those. Now, it is a free market and we encourage private businesses. That is why we have introduced so many programmes to train manpower and tasters so that private people can run businesses.

Is the Coffee Board working on increasing awareness or building brand equity for Indian coffee?

We are, of course, working on positioning Indian coffee better in the international market. We participate in international trade fairs, advertise, get media coverage, arrange Indian coffee tasting sessions in international locations, invite roasters, make them taste Indian coffee, etc. All these efforts are already reaping rewards. Our average price of robusta is about 40 per cent higher than the international average. There is a very large international market for this premium Indian coffee.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> Q & A> by Antonita Madonna / Bangalore – November 14th, 2013