Cafe Coffee Day weighs JVs for foreign foray

Cafe Coffee Day, part of the Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company, is exploring the possibility of entering into a joint venture for its international foray.

Cafe Coffee Day, which has plans to set up 50 cafes overseas by the end of the calendar year, was weighing different models.

Sudipta Sen Gupta, head, marketing, Cafe Coffee Day, said the company was looking at different options, which included joint ventures and a wholly owned subsidiary, as also going it alone.

"Different countries have different strategies," she said. Gupta said: "Typically Cafe Coffee Day invest Rs 18-25 lakh in each of its outlets. The investment in overseas outlets could be less as the cost of real estate in some of the places was lower."

The company completed the due diligence this month and was looking at the potential in different markets such as eastern Europe, south-east Asia, middle-east, China and neighbouring countries.

Gupta said the company would shortly become a Rs 100 crore company. In the domestic market Cafe Coffee Day has plans to take its number of outlets to 200 from 158 at present by the end of this year.

Cafe Coffee Day was also brewing a new model for its business. It was using marketing as a revenue function and had allowed its cafes to be used as on-ground media for brand communication.