BANGALORE: The growth of coffee retail chain segment has prompted leading coffee chains of the country to increase their presence in India. Café Coffee Day and Barista, leading coffee chains, are set to increase their presence in India with plans to enter more cities, besides increasing the number of outlets in places where they already have a presence.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the India International Coffee Festival here on Sunday, Naresh Malhotra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Café Coffee Day, said the number of coffee outlets would touch 550 in around 100 cities by the end of the year from the present 400 outlets operated in 80 cities.

In talks

He said, "We are also in talks with big retailers to set up cafes in hyper markets across the country. Besides, we are exploring the probability of supplying in-flight beverages in two low-cost airlines apart from the two airliners we are already serving."

Barista Creme

Chief Executive Officer of Barista Coffee Company, Partha Dattagupta, said the number of Barista Crème, the premium coffee cafés, would increase to 32 from the present seven with new cafes coming up in the four metros, besides Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.

For the regular Barista outlets, he said, "We will take the number of outlets to 200 during this financial year and add 120 more during the next fiscal."

On the foreign markets, Mr. Dattagupta said they were already operating in the Gulf, while three outlets would be opened in Bangladesh.

Barista was also considering Maldives, Mauritius, Egypt and markets in South East Asia for expansion, he added.

In Pakistan

After the successful launch of its first outlet in Karachi in November 2006, Mr. Malhotra said they were opening another outlet in that city in a couple of days.

The number of Café Coffee Day outlets started through the franchisee mode would reach around 20 by the end of the year, he added.

He said, "Sales are growing daily, and have exceeded our expectations. Coffee Day is getting customers through the word of mouth."

Similar outlets would be set up in other cities, including Islamabad and Lahore, shortly, he said.

Markets in Europe

Mr. Malhotra said they would be opening their third outlet in Vienna, Austria, in the due course, and were also looking at markets in Germany, Switzerland and other European countries.

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