Starbucks to Promote Indian Expresso

Tata Starbucks is now looking at promoting some of its India-sourced Arabica beans from Tata Coffee plantations abroad.

“The Indian Expresso is the hallmark at our stores. As the business here expands, we could look at taking the single-origin coffee and country-specific blends to neighbouring countries. There are opportunities in taking these Indian blends. In the past, we have taken country-specific blends across the network to Malaysia and China,” Ms. Avani Davda, CEO, Tata Starbucks, was quoted as saying in a report by Purvita Chatterjee in The Hindu Business Line.

Tata Global Beverages recently decided to take its natural mineral water brand Himalayan to Singapore. More India-based products are set to ride on the Starbucks network that spreads across 62 countries.

Ms. Davda further elaborated, “In the US market, we entered grocery sales after crossing 10,000 stores. CPG is a growth platform for Starbucks and is present across the US, Japan and parts of China. However, it is not purely like the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) category. The brand is already established in cafes across the US and it is easier to make that transition. While there is enormous potential for this business in India, both in-home and out of home, it will be a journey in small steps.”

The coffee chain sources its food from group company Taj Stats, which also supplies to other international chains such as UK’s Costa Coffee.