Costa Coffee plans to expand rapidly

Coffee retail chain Costa Coffee has come up with the strategy of opening one new store every two weeks with the aim to ramp up its presence in the Indian market. This will take the store count to 75 by the year end from the current 50. Malls, high streets and airports in Tier I towns would figure in the company’s expansion plans.

Ravi Jaipuria, Chairman of Devyani International, the master franchisee for the coffee chain in India, said that the business would be viable if the company could set up at least 20-25 stores in one city because of the investments it makes in the back-end operations.

He added that the pricing would also be the key to success in the Indian market. Costa Coffees are priced at $3 outside the country but are sold at about half the price in India.

The company plans to have outlets at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, besides focusing on expansion in Delhi and Mumbai the next two to three years. Devyani International plans to invest Rs 250 crore in the next four years and take the store count to 500 by then.