News: Coffee Day on Indian expansion

(NT 01/05/2006) Chennai - Coffee Day 'Fresh 'n Ground' (CDFnG), a retail chain, has plans to increase its presence in South, particularly in Tamilnadu, by opening 100 new outlets at an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh per outlet in the current year.

Announcing this at a press conference recently, C J Jayanth, business head, Coffee Day, said of the minimum of 100 stores planned for expansion, the major thrust would be in Tamilnadu where at least 60 new stores would be added. Of the rest of the stores, 25 would be in Karnataka, 10 in Andhra Pradesh and 5 in Kerala, he said.

The company has taken up these initiatives with an aim to double its market share, which presently accounted for 10 per cent, he said.

Moreover, around 80 per cent of the product of CDFnG, since its inception in 1996, has come from South India alone, with Tamilnadu accounting for 28 per cent, followed by Karnataka at 20 per cent, Andhra Pradesh 18 per cent and Kerala 14 per cent, he informed.

Considering the growing market for its packaged filter coffee, Coffee Day - Perfect, the company had proposed to make it available in over 50,000 outlets across South India in the next 12 months, he said.

Fresh'n Ground has 370 stores in the country, out of which 70 are owned by the company, in which 22 blends of freshly grounded coffee powder are available. The company has over 5,500 acres of coffee estates in Chikmagalur and the manufacturing facility is situated at Hassan in Karnataka.