Tata Global Beverages set to launch a host of fruit-based drinks

Tata Cha from the house of Tata Global Beverages is strengthening its presence in Bangalore with the launch of its anchor store at Cunningham Road.
 
With its state of the art outlet with plush interiors, Tata Cha acts as a destination for its visitors to relax, unwind and connect over a cup of tea. The new store is spread across a 1000 sq ft area with a lavish façade, and design language synonymous with chai warmth.
 
Sushant Dash, President (India and the Middle East), Tata Global Beverages, said, “Our existing six outlets are doing very well and have received an excellent customer response. They have also provided us with key insights which we will incorporate going forward. We are delighted to now expand into an upmarket and vibrant area with the launch of the Cunningham road store. This will make us even more accessible to consumers in Bangalore and we look forward to making it a great experience.”
 
Keeping the major part of the menu intact, the food and beverage list will range from a wide variety of hot teas like Ginger Tea, Masala tea along with innovative teas like Chatpata Churan & Gulkand tea. Dilliwali Kanji and Masala Shikanji are some of the local favorites along with Rasmalai Milk Shake, Peach Iced Tea and Chili Guava Ice Slush in the icy cold offerings.
 
The food menu includes dishes inspired by Punjab like Butter Chicken Khichdi to Cafreal Pocket Parathas from Goa. Indigenous recipes such as Chatpata Matar Kulcha and forgotten delicacies like Dal Pakwaan also form a part of the menu, introducing them to the new-age millennials. Many of the offerings from the food & beverage menu aim to revive lost Indian recipes and evoke nostalgia in the minds of customers.

Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) will acquire the branded packet tea business of Dhunseri Tea & Industries for an aggregate consideration of Rs 101 crore. The move is in line with TGBL’s ambition to grow its branded tea business in India.

Dhunseri branded tea business has two brands, including Lalghoda and Kalaghoda, which together make up 5% of the total banded tea market and are market leaders in Rajasthan. The deal doesn’t include Dhunseri Tea’s smaller brands ‘Chhote Lal’ and ‘Dhunseri Gold’, since the two brands have no commercial value.

The acquisition will be helping the company to expand its tea business in regional markets such as Rajasthan.

CK Dhanuka, Chairman of Dhunseri Tea and Industries, said, “The FMCG business (packet tea) is a different ballgame and a plantation is another, we know our strengths. We are on the lookout to buy more plantations in Africa.”

Tata Global Beverages Ltd (TGBL) has said that Tata Starbucks, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks Coffee of the US, is eyeing huge expansion drive in the next few years.

Rakesh Sony, Global Head (strategy and M&A), Tata Global Beverages Ltd, said, "TGBL is in the process of consolidation. If you look at our India business, in the first nine months of this financial year, we have grown about nine percent in terms of volume and seven percent in terms of value."

"We are a large business. In India, we are among the top two brands and our market share is about 20 percent. One thing TGBL has not consciously done in the last 3-4 years is to aggressively invest behind our brands, which we have now decided to do. So, you will see some amount of margin pressure in the temporary phase. However, it’s been done for a larger good and for the larger cause," he added.

Sony further stated, "Therefore, our brands will continue to perform very well in India and overseas too in the next few quarters. We see India margins returning to 14-15 percent."

Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) is planning to invest Rs 100 crore for setting up a tea packaging unit at Tata Steel Special Economic Zone in Odisha.

TGBL said, "The company has entered into a letter of Intent (LOI) with Tata Steel Special Economic Zone Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel Ltd, for setting up a tea packaging unit in Gopalpur Industrial Park, Odisha."

The two companies estimate an aggregate investment of around Rs 100 crore over a period of time for setting up this new unit.

The facility will have the capacity to produce 36 million kgs per annum. It is expected to be operational by 2020 after obtaining all statutory and regulatory clearances.

The new plant will be used for the operation of manufacturing and storage of tea. It will also be used as warehouse of all products of the company, including its subsidiaries, associates and joint-venture companies.

टाटा ग्लोबल बेवरेजेज लिमिटेड (टीबीजीएल) ने अंतर्राष्ट्रीय कारोबार को एक इकाई के तहत लाकर अपने विदेशी परिचालनों का पुनर्गठन किया है। कंपनी ने कनाडा, अमेरिका और ऑस्ट्रेलिया (सीएए) और ब्रिटेन, यूरोप, मध्य पूर्व और अफ्रीका (ईएमईए) क्षेत्रों में एक इकाई में कारोबार विलय कर दिया है।

फर्म अपने मूल क्षेत्रों पर ध्यान केंद्रित करने के लिए गैर-कोर और उप-पैमाने के बाजारों से भी बाहर निकला है। टीजीबीएल ने कहा, "रूस में, कंपनी ने अपने ऑपरेटिंग मॉडल का पुनर्गठन किया है, इसने श्रीलंका में वृक्षारोपण में अपनी हिस्सेदारी बांट दी है, और चीन में अपने संयुक्त उद्यम व्यवसाय से बाहर निकला है।"

कंपनी ने व्यापार के लिए सहभागिता अनलॉक करने, लागत को अनुकूलित करने और संचालन को व्यवस्थित करने के लिए अपने विदेशी परिचालनों का पुनर्गठन किया है।

टाटा ग्लोबल बेवरेजेज के एमडी और सीईओ अजय मिश्रा ने कहा, "टाटा ग्लोबल बेवरेजेज की महत्वाकांक्षी विकास योजनाओं के लिए हमें अधिक दक्षता के साथ काम करने, हमारे लागत आधार को कम करने और वैश्विक स्तर पर चल रहे हमारे कारोबार में संभावित सहकर्मियों को पूरी तरह से टैप करने की आवश्यकता है। हम यह पुनर्गठन हमें कोर बाजारों और बेहतर लाभ उठाने के विकास के अवसरों पर बेहतर ध्यान केंद्रित करने में मदद करेगा।"

विलय इकाई को अंतर्राष्ट्रीय व्यापार प्रभाग कहा जाएगा। इसका नेतृत्व आदिल अहमद करेंगे, जो कंपनी के मुख्य विपणन अधिकारी है।

Tata Global Beverages Ltd (TBGL) has restructured its overseas operations by bringing international businesses under a single unit. The company has merged businesses in Canada, America and Australia (CAA) and the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions into a single unit.

The firm has also exited non-core and sub-scale markets to focus on its core regions.

TGBL said, "In Russia, the company has restructured its operating model, it has divested its stake in plantations in Sri Lanka, and exited its joint venture business in China."

The company has restructured its overseas operations to unlock synergies for the business, optimise costs and streamline operations.

Ajoy Misra, MD and CEO of Tata Global Beverages, said, "Tata Global Beverages’ ambitious growth plans require us to operate with greater efficiency, reduce our cost base and fully tap the potential synergies across our businesses that operating on a global scale can bring us. This restructuring will help us better focus on core markets and better leverage growth opportunities." 

The merged unit will be called international business division. It will be headed by Adil Ahmad, who was the company's Chief Marketing Officer. 

टाटा ग्लोबल बेवरेजिस (टीजीबीएल) अपनी संगठनात्मक संरचना को पुन: व्यवस्थित कर रहा है और भारत में ज्यादा गतिविधियाँ बढ़ा रहा है। कोलकाता में टाटा कंसल्टेंसी सर्विसेज की प्रबंधित सेवाओं के लिए कंपनी ने भारत, ब्रिटेन, अमेरिका, कनाडा और ऑस्ट्रेलिया सहित विभिन्न क्षेत्रों में वैश्विक सूचना प्रणाली, मानव संसाधन, वित्त और वाणिज्यिक जैसे कुछ संचालनों को स्थानांतरित कर दिया है।

कंपनी का निर्णय व्यवसाय प्रबंधकों को मुख्य गतिविधियों पर ध्यान केंद्रित करने, चपलता लाने और तेजी से निर्णय लेने में मदद करेगा। टाटा केमिकल्स फर्म ग्रुप के साथ संभावित विलय से, टीजीबीएल भारत में सबसे बड़ी एफएमसीजी कंपनियों में से एक बनना चाहता है।

टीजीबीएल के प्रवक्ता ने कहा, "2018-19 के अंत तक ट्रांजीशन प्रक्रिया पूरी होने की उम्मीद है। यह हमारे व्यापार प्रबंधकों को पूरी तरह से कोर बिजनेस गतिविधियों, विकास और विस्तार पर ध्यान केंद्रित करने में सक्षम करेगा।"

टाटा समूह के अध्यक्ष एन चंद्रशेखरन ने कहा है कि कंपनी का ध्यान नुकसान उठा रही सहायक कंपनियों से बाहर निकलकर भारत में अपने कारोबार को बढ़ाने के लिए होगा। भारतीय बाजार का कंपनी के कारोबार में 45% का योगदान है।

Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) is rearranging its organisational structure and moving more activities to India. The company has moved some of its operations such as global information systems, HR, finance and commercial in various regions including India, UK, US, Canada and Australia, to the managed services of Tata Consultancy Services in Kolkata.

The company’s decision will help the business managers to focus on core activities, bring in agility and spur faster decision-making. With a possible merger with group firm Tata Chemicals, TGBL seeks to become one of the largest FMCG companies in India.

TGBL’s spokesperson said, “The transition process is expected to be completed by the end of 2018-19. It will enable our business managers to wholly concentrate on core business activities, growth and expansion.”

N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Group, has said that the company's focus would be to scale up its businesses within India while exiting loss-making subsidiaries. The Indian market contributes 45% to the company's business.

Tata Global Beverages Ltd today said it would exit loss-making subsidiaries and focus on profitable ones that can be scaled up.

The company, however, would have to maintain subsidiaries in certain locations, owing to legal issues, Chairman N Chandrasekaran told shareholders at the annual general meeting here.

"The whole idea is to have subsidiaries which can be scaled up and are profitable," he said.

"It is important to pick up growth rate and grow profitably. Growth in the domestic market is required. Mix of product portfolio is critical and is going to be a big focus for us," Chandrasekaran said.

The growth, he said, could be either organic or inorganic.

Tata Global Beverages' market share in the domestic tea market was 20 per cent, while it was three to four per cent for coffee.

The company would make an investment of Rs 150 crore in addition to the ongoing capex of Rs 300 crore, he said.

Regarding the Tata Starbucks outlets, he said that each store takes two to three years to achieve break even, but the coffee chain as a corporation had already achieved the same.

In his speech to the shareholders, Chandrasekaran said the company posted a flat revenue growth of one per cent in the last fiscal.

Referring to international markets, he said growth continued to suffer because of marginal presence in many overseas countries.

Even though in volume terms, the company continued to be "number one" in the Indian market, the same was not true in value terms, he said.

On prospects in West Bengal, the top company official said the Tata Group is committed to the state and looking for the "right opportunity" in terms of investment.

"We have good presence of TCS and companies like TGBL and Starbucks are present (in West Bengal). When the opportunity comes, we will definitely invest in the state," Chandrasekaran added.

The 50:50 joint venture of Tata Global Beverages (TGBL, formerly Tata Tea) and US-based café chain which is going to open its maiden outlet in Kolkata has opened 96 stores so far in India and would like to take the number over 100 soon. It will open one large-format outlet along with two or more small-format stores in Kolkata by the end of next year.

On the sidelines of 54th AGM of TGBL in the city on Friday, the CEO of Tata Starbucks, Sumitro Ghosh, told TOI: “There is no question of fixing any place in the city for setting up our outlet as the study we are conducting is yet to be over. Once that is done, we will announce the project details.”

However, replying to a TOI query on possible store formats, Ghosh added: “It is a big city. These will be no Starbucks kiosks for sure. One will definitely be a large-format outlet along with two or more small-format stores,” he elaborated.

Tata Global Beverages Ltd has appointed Tata Sons head, N Chandrasekaran as Chairman with immediate effect.

The TGBL board at its meeting has approved the appointment of N. Chandrasekaran as an additional director and as chairman of the board of the company in place of Harish Bhat who expressed a desire to step down as chairman.

The Board has also appointed Siraj Azmat Chaudhry as Non Executive Independent Director.

Chandrasekaran exuded confidence over the future of TGBL, saying it is a strong player in FMCG segment with major brands such as Tetley and Tata Tea.

He said, "The company has built deep capabilities in this space and is well poised to address many significant consumer trends and opportunities over the years ahead."

Bhatt, who has stepped down as TGBL Chairman, would continue on the board as a non executive director.

Harish Bhat took over as the TGBL Chairman after ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry was voted out by the board of Tata Global Beverages in November last year.

After putting its step on the accelerator to ramp up its presence in the country, it seems like Tata Starbucks Pvt. Ltd., joint venture of Tata Global Beverages Ltd. and Starbucks Crop. has decided to pull-up their horses to cut down its speed. Since the time of its launch in October 2012, the company has opened around 25 stores every year for the first three months. But recently it has been noticed that company has slowed down its expansion plans drastically by opening just 10 new stores.

According to the figures, in June 2015, company had around 74 stores under its belt, year later, it has just managed to add another 10 to its previous total. The numbers include the closure of a couple of stores in Delhi in Lajpat Nagar and South Extension due to the Metro work taking place close by.

To be sure, profitable growth along with new store openings is one of the top priorities for the new chief executive Sumi Ghosh, who came in January from Chicago. The company is far from being even profitable at this point in 2014-15, Tata Starbucks reported a net loss of Rs 42 crore on revenues of Rs171.2 crore.

On the other hand, company has been performing exceptionally well in China where it has opened 2000 stores till now and plans to add another 500 every year for the next five years. As part of its standard course of business, we continually evaluate our business to ensure a healthy store portfolio. We remain committed to the India market and we will continue to work thoughtfully to open stores quickly, said the company in an email on 8 July, adding that it is looking at the long term and taking a disciplined and focused approach to building its brand here.