Australian coffee to invest Rs 33 crore to expand

Chain Di Bella, Australian coffee will invest $5 million i.e. Rs 33 crore in the next one year to increase its stores to 25 in the country, reported ET.

The company, which started its second stint in India early this year after splitting with its earlier partner in 2014, plans to set up a Barista training centre in the country and also start live roasting facility in some of its outlets.

"Our business model is different wherein each of our outlets is leased and we have revenue share agreements with the landlord. So we break even within a month of operation," said Rahul Leekha, Director, Electel, a Swiss-based company which is the licence owner of the brand Di Bella coffee for India, Middle East, Africa, European Union and the UK.

At present, the cafe chain has 10 outlets in the country and will open seven more within this quarter.

"The coffee landscape has changed drastically in India wherein we find opportunity to create our own niche as a lot of big players have shut shop and found it difficult to sustain," Leekha said.

Recently, the cafe chain tied up with the Australian Retail College, which is supported by the Australian government, to train manpower in food and beverage (F&B) skills, coffee brewing, soft skills and grooming. The training would happen at the Barista training centre which will be set up by the company by the end of this year in Mumbai. "We would retain some of the manpower in each batch, while the others will be recruited by other F&B companies through our in-house placement cells," Leekha said.

He also added that each batch would have around 50 percent women, as the industry is facing a dearth of talented women employees.

The retail coffee market in India is growing 20 percent year-on-year, according to industry estimates.