Starbucks hasn't booked a place in Bandra, says BMC

Company says stores operated only after getting all licences

Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee house brand, was in for a rude shock when city authorities raided its popular outlet in the neighbourhood of Bandra here. Located on the Chapel Road, near the foot of the stairs leading up to the famous Mount Mary Church, a part of the Starbucks outlet was cleared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for encroaching on public space. The raid comes when Starbucks has been aggresively launching stores in India; it currently has 24 stores in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune.

A corporation official said the action was taken against the cafe under provision 394 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act. The official, who declined to be named, said Starbucks had not obtained a licence for an eatery from the civic body for the space it was occupying. Corpoartion staff had to, therefore, confiscate the furniture there.

A spokesperson for Tata Starbucks, the joint venture company setting up Starbucks stores in the country, said, “The recent action taken by the municipal corporation was a unilateral action against various retail stores in Bandra. We would like to reiterate that all our stores are operated following completion of all required licences and other legalities. We regret the occurrence of this incident and are in touch with the authorities concerned.”

The Bandra outlet was launched last month. The embarrassment to the company was hardly lost on many including its patrons, present at the time the raid was conducted three days ago.

While corporation raids on illegal joints and those encroaching on public spaces have been carried out off and on, this is the first time a Tata outlet has been raided, persons in the know said.

Starbucks proposes to scale up as quickly as possible as it attempts to catch up with rivals Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), Barista Lavazza and Costa Coffee in the country. Persons in the know said corporation raids were also carried out at CCD and Barista Lavazza outlets at Bandstand in Bandra, located close to the sea.

CCD officials confirmed the corpoartion had confiscated the store’s furniture on Wednesday as part of its clean-up drive but has since then returned it after the company’s papers were found in order. Barista executives were not immediately available for comments.