Serving the perfect brew

Barista Coffee Company Limited is one of the leading coffee retail chains in India. Besides India, the company has successfully made its presence felt in Dubai and Sri Lanka. Mr Sanjay Coutinho, COO, shares his views on the company’s development, future expansion and marketing strategy in a tête-à-tête with Retailer.

Retailer: How do you like to position Barista as a leading café brand? Where do you see it heading for in the next five years?

Sanjay Coutinho (SC): Barista is positioned as a café that provides an authentic Italian coffee drinking experience in a warm, friendly, no pressure environment. We began operations in the year 2000, as we felt the time was right for the Indian consumer to experience a café that provided a third space, away from work and home, where the guest could relax and unwind..

Retailer: Kindly elaborate on the USP of Barista. What are your strategies that help you survive the competition and challenges from existent players?

SC:  We use key touch points to differentiate our brand experience. These include store ambience, product range and innovation, and guest service.  Barista also offers its guests other elements for engagement like guitars, scrabble, chess, etc.

To sustain differentiation we follow a three tier approach, that is, refresh store look, refresh store experience, innovation in beverage and food.

Retailer: How many outlets are you planning to open in the coming years? Who are your target consumers?

SC: Barista will double the number of outlets in the next three years. Our expansion plans are funded through internal accruals.  

Our focus is on the young, adult people aged between 20 and 35 -  young men and women, who have global lifestyle and value a great cup of coffee in a warm and friendly environment.  

Retailer: To what extent has the global recession affected your business and what steps have you taken to deal with the situation?

SC: So far we have not witnessed any slow down, rather we have seen a continuous growth in footfall. Barista has been experiencing growth in excess of 25 per cent this year.  

Retailer: What best retail practices from across the globe can be adopted to create a win–win situation for both, consumers and retailers?

SC: One of the big trends we have witnessed in the past few years is ‘Value Migration’ where consumers either move to ‘premium’ offerings or ‘discounted value’ offerings. Barista has unveiled Barista Crème—its premium chain of cafés. This lounge format is the next level to upgrade our consumers to the next level of Barista experience.

Also, I feel enhancing consumer experience through relevant value offerings is the way forward.