Retail Plus
Chennai
Full of beans
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This head of a coffee blending house has plans for an international franchise for a South Indian coffee pub
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“Coffee is a refreshing drink and a morning cup could kickstart your day. Over 2 billion cups of the brew are consumed worldwide everyday,” exclaims Managing Director, Vivekananda Coffee, N Srinivasan, seated in his coffee-colored Corporate Office with sparkling glass doors on Shivaji Street T Nagar. Vivekananda Coffee is a fifty-year-old, third generation growth story of a small coffee shop that has transformed itself quietly into a global brand.
“It was my grandfather T N Ulaganathan who started a coffee shop in 150 sq ft on with Rs500 as capital on Usman Road. He was influenced by his brother who also had a coffee shop. The shop is still there but it has been renovated and the building is owned by Vivekananda Coffee,” says Srinivasan.
It was Srinivasan’s father T N U Nagarajan who ventured to sell packaged coffee under a brand name with a South Indian flavour after a special blending and roasting of the coffee beans. He also opened two outlets in the city.
“When I took over in 2001, I added five outlets and have transformed the business. I flew in blending and roasting machines from Germany and raised packaging to international standards and began supplying to five star hotels and supermarkets.”
The firm exports filter coffee powder to Singapore, Dubai, USA and have plans for Sri Lanka. But they are yet to break into the North Indian market where people are habitual tea drinkers. “But at the Ahaara exhibition held recently in New Delhi there was good response and we used 250 liters of milk for free sampling. We will be opening shortly in New Delhi,” says Srinivasan.
Thirty-four-year-old Srinivasan who holds a Bachelor’s degree from Loyola College says his business ideas and outlook stems from his father who is his management guru. “My business acumen has been derived from him,” he states. His grooming into the coffee trade began when he was in his fifth standard in school and during the annual holidays, his father taught him to blend and roast coffee beans to get that South Indian flavour. “What we dirnk today is Cappuccino and Mappucinno, Italian and European flavours. But our speciality is Kumbakkonam Degree Coffee, a variant that is manufactured in bulk quantities and supplied anywhere in the world.” The actual blending and roasting of the beans is done at their factory in T Nagar.
But Srinivasan is not content – his dream is to take South Indian coffee abroad. He plans to open an outlet or a coffee shop with South Indian décor in the city, then take the same to Singapore with five branches, later opening the franchise across the world. Interestingly this low profile person who drives a company with an annual turnover of Rs15 crores and owns a Merc, refuses to lose the common touch – often commuting by bike or taking the bus. “When we have KFC and MacDonald’s coming in here, why cannot we take Kumbakonam Degree coffee to other countries?” A rational question indeed.
I D FRANCIS
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