FHRAI Magazine - Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations ...

[ News Updates ]Starbucks Cafés to open 2 stores in Indiain 2012Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks Coffee Company recently announced a joint venture between the iconic internationalcoffee brand and the 2 nd largest branded tea company in the world. The 50-50 joint venture, named TATA Starbucks, will ownand operate Starbucks cafés which will be branded as Starbucks Coffee ‘A Tata Alliance’. The retail stores will be developed incities across the country, beginning with stores in Delhi and Mumbai in calendar year 2012.In a separate sourcing and roasting agreement between Starbucks Coffee Company and Tata Coffee, the latter will roast coffeeto supply Tata Starbucks and to export to Starbucks Coffee Company. This agreement has paved way for consumers in India toenjoy the premium ‘Starbucks Experience’, while further discovering the unique taste of high-quality. “The joint venture withStarbucks is in line with Tata Global Beverages’ strategy of growing through inorganic growth focussing on strategic alliancesin addition to organic growth,” stated RK Krishnakumar, Vice Chairman, Tata Global Beverages. “It opens up exciting businessopportunities and new formats for Tata Global Beverages. Starbucks brings unique retail expertise as well as a shared senseof business values. We are excited about the opportunities the alliance presents to innovate in the retail space and bring newbeverage experiences to more consumers in India, leveraging the global in-home expertise of Tata Global Beverages and theglobal out-of-home expertise of Starbucks,” he added.“We’re very pleased to have found the best partner for Starbucks in Tata – a company that shares so many values for conductingbusiness in a way that earns the trust and respect of our customers and partners (employees),” said John Culver, President,Starbucks China and Asia Pacific. “We look forward to bringing the ‘Starbucks Experience’ to customers in India by offering highquality ‘Arabica’ coffee, handcrafted beverages, locally relevant food and legendary service,” Culver added.The TATA Starbucks joint venture will operate cafés under the Quick Service Restaurant category. This partnership will enablethe introduction of the unique ‘Starbucks Experience’ to the Indian consumers. Through a separate coffee sourcing and roastingagreement, Starbucks and Tata Coffee will work towards developing and improving the profile of Indian-grown ‘Arabica’ coffeearound the world by elevating the stature of Indian coffee through joint marketing efforts, as well as improving the quality ofcoffee through sustainable practices and advanced agronomy solutions.(L-R) R. Krishnakumar and John Culver28 FHRAI Magazine february 2012 Visit FHRAI Website: www.fhrai.com