Tired of sipping on sweet, milky ‘chai’ at the local tea-stall? Are you interested in trying out some Indo-Western exotic bites along with a latte? Well, come down to Mumbai and you will be able to. Indian taste buds have gone international with the dominating presence of cafés such as Café Coffee Day, UK’s Costa Coffee, Australia’s Gloria Jeans, and the US’s The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Now it’s time for India’s caffeine dreams to become even bigger with the entry of Seattle-based multinational coffee chain, Starbucks.

In an $80 million joint venture with Tata Global Beverages, Starbucks India is known as Tata Starbucks Ltd. Starbucks, which has more than 17,600 branches in over 61 countries, has now opened three new outlets in Mumbai at the historic Elphinstone Building in Horniman Circle, the Taj Mahal Hotel and Palace, and Oberoi Mall in the Mumbai suburbs.

The Indian menu has been tailored to meet the local tastes and the menu items reflect this unique fusion of East and West. There are items like Chicken Tikka Panini, Tamarind Peanut Chicken Calzone, Chai Tea Latte, and Elaichi Mawa Croissant. The items are also priced significantly lower as compared to those at other Starbucks’ outlets across the world. The company is in a bid to woo India, which is essentially a tea-loving nation. The country’s tea sector is the thousands of tea-stalls scattered all over the country’s streets. For as little as five Indian rupees, one can kick start their day on sweet, milky, elaichi-flavored tea served in small, glass tumblers.

India’s openness to cafes and coffee is still in the nascent stage. At present, there are 1,950 cafes in the country and they contribute to the country’s $230 million revenue. This figure is also expected to grow to 13-14 percent over the next five years. Tata Group plans to open 50 more stores by the end of 2012. The company is also planning to set up a café in Delhi by early 2013.

The Starbucks outlet in Horniman Circle is spread over sprawling 4000 square feet of space and occupies two floors in South Mumbai’s elite business hub, making sales of 8.5 lakh Indian rupees per day. On opening day, October 19, 2012, there were long queues of people forming outside the South Mumbai café, all waiting to get in. Everybody was excited to try out the offerings by the newest entrant on the coffee market in India. They waited to grab a cup of their favorite coffee for over an hour.

Starbucks boss, Howard Schultz, agrees that the company has faced challenges while entering foreign markets such as those in Japan and China but they have overcome them. Starbucks has over 600 outlets in China and the success of India’s outlets is already exceeding expectations.

Analysts are also hopeful with estimations that the coffee market in India is expected to haul in more than $500 million over the next five years. Will Starbucks be able to build its presence in India, facing stiff competition from other players such as Barista, Costa Coffee, and the local Café Coffee Day? Only time will tell.

Image Courtesy : Fran Simó

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It may seem strange that being able to buy Starbucks in South Africa makes the news, but a year ago, it would have seemed odd to even buy Starbucks in South Africa. Now, it has been made possible. Initially, South Africans were caught sipping Starbucks coffee in only a few select coffee shops, but thanks to the initiative of Checkers and Checkers Hyper, Starbucks is being enjoyed in South African homes.

Although Starbucks is an exciting new treat for South Africans, there has not been a shortage of good coffee in the country. Tourists travelling to the country will soon realize that a very popular brand of coffee is that of Mugg & Bean. Their cappuccinos are very popular and their American iced coffees simply delicious.

The Seattle Coffee Company also has a pretty good coffee and seems to draw inspiration from the presentation and functioning of Starbucks coffee houses. The Vida e Caffé coffee houses have a more exotic feel to them. Their menu is in Portuguese which makes all the coffee drinks sound tantalizing and the music played in these coffee houses makes you want to linger a bit longer.

For years there have been rumors about Starbucks arriving on South African shores. Excited South Africans waited in anticipation for the rumors to materialize. And finally, the 2010 Fifa World Cup ushered in the arrival of Starbucks in the country. The coffee bars that are “proudly serving Starbucks” are found in some Southern Sun Hotels and Tsogo Sun Casinos.

There are two “we proudly brew” Starbucks coffee bars in Johannesburg, one in Durban and one in Cape Town. These are evidently few and far between, but there are hopes that Starbucks will build upon this initiative and expand their brand even more. These cafes serve Starbucks coffee, Tazo teas and various Starbucks espresso-based beverages.

More recently, however, Starbucks has expanded their brand in South Africa in a different way. Many were surprised when, watching their regular television shows, an advertisement for Starbucks being sold at Checkers came onto the screen. A Facebook event for this initiative was created by Heart 104.9 FM, a popular South African radio station.

Excitement was in the air and people swarmed to Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores to include Starbucks coffee in their grocery shopping sprees.

The agreement reached between Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores, and Starbucks Coffee International, Inc., ensures that South Africa is stocked with Starbucks ground coffee and beans. The coffee comes in the flavors Verona and Decaf Verona, House Blend and Decaf House Blend, Colombia and French Roast.

From January 2012, Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores’ coffee aisles were stocked with Starbucks ground coffee coming in sachet packets of seven and bags of Starbucks coffee beans. Stocks are currently limited but will hopefully be replenished by March 2012.

In the past, Starbucks was a pleasant indulgence reserved for South Africans abroad and the friends or family members they decided to buy Starbucks coffee for. That has all changed. The initiative of ShopRite Checkers and Starbucks has ensured that Starbucks can become an everyday favorite for all South Africans.

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Starbucks is expanding its multi-billion dollar company even further with a chain of juice bars, set to open next year. The world wide famous coffee shop chain is the largest in the world and now has plans to break into the health food market, a 50 billion dollar industry. The corporation bought the juice company Evolution Fresh for $30 million in cash last week.

Since the news was announced, stocks in Jamba Inc. have declined while stocks in Starbucks have increased. Jamba, a popular smoothie and juice chain with 752 juice bars in the U.S has been struggling the past few years. Revenues have declined as competition increased with major companies such as Starbucks and McDonald’s Corp introducing competing products.

Jamba CEO James White said “We will continue to accelerate our product innovation and, while we welcome new entrants to the marketplace, we will adjust our strategy as needed.” CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz argued that Jamba suffered after it moved toward a more commodity business and away from what popular independents do well.

Speaking about the new business venture Schultz said “We think we can build a major business”. Starbucks recently dropped the word ‘coffee’ from their famous Mermaid logo, suggesting that they don’t want to be only associated with coffee anymore. This is a move proven to be effective by other companies that have expanded their products.

Apple Inc. dropped the word computer from its name four years ago placing a stronger focus on consumer electronics, such as iPods, iPads and iPhones. PepsiCo was also once called Pepsi-Cola, before it became a broader beverage and food company. Starbucks says its developing consumer products business will one day be on par with its coffee shops in sales, although this prospect is at least several years away.

Bob Goldin, executive vice president at food service consultancy Technomic said “It has interesting potential, but I don’t know if it has the broad appeal that coffee has”. Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy argues a different prospective, “Starbucks is smart enough that, if it’s something that doesn’t work, they can pull the plug pretty quickly”.

President of channel development at Starbucks, Jeff Hansberry, notes that Evolution Fresh uses a special process called high-pressure pasteurization, which preserves the juice without heating it so the nutrients and taste are not lost. Although Starbucks have not yet released the number of juice bars they will be opening, it is official that the first of the juice bars will open on the West Coast of the U.S next year.

Brendan Howard / Shutterstock.com

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