Girnar forays into TN tea mkt

Girnar Food and Beverages , a Mumbai-based tea and agro commodities manufacturer, is planning to establish its retail footprint in Tamil Nadu by setting up an outlet in Coimbatore.

Hemant J Shah, director, Girnar Food and Beverages Private Limited, while launching the products at 'The Chamber Show 2005' in Coimbatore, said, "Since the response for our tea is good here, we plan to open our first outlet in South at Coimbatore shortly. Eventually, we will set up our outlets in other cities like Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Erode and Tiruchirapalli. Before doing that we will market our products all over the South."

The opening of outlets will be done through franchisees, he added. However, he was not sure about the exact date of entry into the TN market.

The group has five premium brands including Five Jumbo and Golden Assam. "South Indians prefer strong dust tea and to suit their tastebuds we will introduce our Golden Assam variety here," said Shah.

The company has more than 40 outlets across Maharashtra, a state where it has 20 per cent market share. Besides, Girnar outlets also sell grounded coffee and milk powder. The product range of Girnar F&B includes packed black tea, green and flavoured tea bags, tea and coffee premixes, instant coffee and tea masala.

The company has a processing plant at Umbergaon (Gujarat), where it enjoys a nine per cent market share.

Girnar Group also has its presence in the international market by exporting its products to Russia, Poland, Vietnam, Pakistan and to the Middle East countries.

The international business operations are handled by Girnar Exports and Girnar Industries at Kakanad (Cochin) where it comes under the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).