Flavour of Italy

Initiatives

Cafés at Ahemdabad turned into fully vegetarian. Idli was introduced on the menu card down south along with north as well. Paranthas are introduced in south and it blended really well. Barista Lavazza decided to enhance guest experience and introduced a range of wines at Lavelle Road store in Bangalore.

Marketing initiatives 

The purpose is not only to communicate but receive the feedbacks from the customers.  Barista has been using digital media a lot, for example, social media networking.  The brand has been using mobile space a lot.  A community has been formed on facebook and the response is quite well.

Brand propositions 

 The primary proposition is serving the true Italian coffee experience. Barista’s environment is friendly, which has been always successfully retained.

The challenges overcome

India was always a tea drinking nation. The challenge has always been consumption and the model to sustain that consumption pattern. Being exposed to the international trends through films, advertising, youth community sites and personal blogs people are constantly looking for something different.

With an increase in preference for out of home experience, customers have more to choose from and are savvy when it comes to making decisions. Barista caters to their needs and has succeded. 

Expansion plans

Barista is not chasing numbers. It would still want to be in that space providing its customers with a core promise. For Barista, the idea is to open in those geographies where people want the brand to be present. 

His understanding of the retail business and his learning in this process

“In terms of being retailers in coffee, I think it has been all about learning. Retail is all about learning. You keep learning and re learning all the time. We had to keep up pace with the consumer trends, and for Lavazza, it is all about the innovations and that is where we have maintained our leadership mandate.”