New Delhi: Italian coffee chain Lavazza on Thursday
launched liqueur coffees in India and said it will expand its
cafe outlets Barista as part of plans to clock Rs 300 crore
revenue from the country by next year.
Liqueur coffees, introduced for the first time in India
by Lavazza, will be initially available at only one of its
Barista outlet in Delhi.
"Our target is to be a Rs 300-crore company in India from
our two chains — Barista and Fresh & Honest," Barista Coffee
Company Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Coutinho said here.
"This will involve a number of measures, including
expansion of the Barista chain, promoting our newly launched
liqueur coffees, rental renegotiations and so on," he added.
Coutinho said Lavazza, which is looking at closing the
year with Rs 220 crore revenue from India, plans to expand its
Barista chain by adding another 20-25 outlets within the next
few months with an investment of around Rs 10-15 crore.
"In the last seven months we have opened 21 outlets in
India and we will be adding another 20-25 by March 2010. Each
outlet will require an investment of Rs 30-50 lakh and they
will mostly be in metros and Tier I cities," Cautinho said.
Barista Lavazza has over 200 outlets in India.
He said Barista Lavazza may look at introducing
liqueur coffees at some outlets in other metros as well, based on
customer feedback over next two to four months.
Cautinho, however, said, "So far we have not sought
licences for liqueur coffees for any other outlet."
He added that Lavazza's introducing liqueur coffees was
just an innovation and it will do "everything within the
coffee domain."
Lavazza acquired Barista and Fresh & Honest from Sterling
Infotech Group in 2007. In June, Lavazza completed brand
integration with Barista.
As part of cost-cutting, Cautinho said, the company is
renegotiation rentals to include revenue share model, on the
lines of various other retail majors.
"This involves various models, including adoption of
revenue sharing, reducing rentals and entering into rent
escalation waiver agreements with property owners," he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 05, 2009, 18:11