The Indian Caffeine: from the filter era to the espresso era
An article on the business for a product and business review site:
Its Interesting to read the response on what people think about the Café Coffee Day experience, but I’d like to talk about the business in business terms, which might reason why you like the business or dislike your coffee shop.
The "Cafe" concept is something that is borrowed from the western world (Europe to be precise). As children we have learnt about coffee as a very "South Indian” concept and a custom like any other religion. Every South Indian father begins his day with a cup before bragging about everything in the house with the exception of the Newspaper though. "Filter Coffee" was the norm, the bitter concoction sweetened by volumes of sugar. As time progressed, Café’s began to sprout across Indian cities, and almost overnight coffee & especially Café’s become the *in thin. *Well if one ponders over the sudden transition, one will realise that it is the Café’s that gave the bitter concoction its share of fame. Located on the high street, its ambience and the youthful look that Café’s flaunt that make’s the coffees special!!!.
While we have talked about what a coffee is like to the "aam admi"; how does it work as a business in India? Cafes in India are in the business of selling space (leman terms: they are leasing that chair and table that you occupy!!!) In doing so you buy the coffee and the assortment of foods, a soso coffee and decent food. A vast majority of coffee shop goers in India have their reasons to go to a coffee shop: A place to hang out, place to be seen and to see, some place other than work..........while having a cup of coffee is the least chosen of the options.
Coming back to Coffee’s, I am a trained barista, a job that I had taken up to make ends meet during my university days in Cambridge, UK. A gruelling 2-week training programme in coffee making and 2 additional weeks in health, hygiene and cafe management made me a Barista!!! 6 months on the coffee machine and further training in quality standards made me a senior barista with a Trainer badge!!!. Coffee making isn’t rocket science!!! I admit it but given that there is a World Championship in coffee making: It becomes a bigger deal. Basics are sharpened and skills are put to test, man and machine churn up concoctions that carry blend, aroma and brewing to its best.
Returning to India after 2.5 yrs brought me to asses how coffee business works in India, and so I visited some coffee shops in Bangalore (where I am from). Well needless to say it was great, good given that Bangalore was from where the "cafe" bean germinated. The business and ambience were good, but given my skills in coffee making, I though otherwise of the coffee that was being served. I came to conclude that customer ignorance is cafe virtue!!! This is not to say that coffee’s are not coffee’s at all but the basics are flawed and lack consistency (my first cappuccino is never like the second one and so on. Until coffee shops tell you how a cappuccino should taste and look like you will not complain. The Indian customer is being taken for a ride; rather his ignorance and lack of knowledge of basic coffee constituents seems like the best business opportunity.
I list below a short note on some basics in making coffee. Making a coffee has different stages but has to be brewed and served in a step by step process to ensure a good hot coffee. A slip up at any one stage, destroys the coffee. The Espresso is the base for any coffee, and a good espresso carries something called "Crème" a thin layer of golden froth. Crème is achievable when the espresso machine is well tuned by the barista, the coffee grinder is tuned to a semi coarse grind, and the coffee powder is well tamped into the group head (the filter that holds the powder of coffee). Espressos are timed to their every machine to determine consistency.
Having negotiated espresso making comes, blending the espresso for the basic coffee’s, tats where inconsistency works its magic. Making the milk is as important as the espresso, cappuccino’s are the dodgiest of coffee’s, it carries four elements: Espresso, milk, milk crème and foamy milk froth. I could go on but I this has made up for a feel of things.....
Well coming back to Cafe Coffee Day: It is my last choice for a coffee, infact I would choose an Udupi hotel instead. My choice however is influenced by my expertise in coffee making and the need to uphold espresso making. I would not say this if I were not a barista and Cafe Coffee Day is not miserable with its coffee’s but it isn’t consistent, every cup tastes different, so one can imagine what drinking coffee across its 300 odd stores would be like. The silver lining is that they are the most successful coffee chain in India and growing: There are three main reasons for this:
They are in the business of selling space.
Consumers are ignorant of what coffee is like, and merely visit for the experience.
They have the perfect pricing strategy: they are at the lower end of pricing: Hence consumers prefer being at theirs rather than anywhere else: “cheaper leasing space”.
*So what is the future of coffee in India and the future of Coffee Day?
* As for coffee: time will move to when people would really want their caffeine, attracting competition and inducing organic growth into the industry. With organic growth the government will be summoned to open the sector to foreign companies more liberally (well the retail sector as a whole). With competition Cafe Coffee Day would have to strap up its laces and rely on the already established network of stores to hold its market share.
So the next time you go to a coffee shop: care to be concerned about the coffee you pay for.......try to ask the barista and learn more about your cup of coffee: (well you are eventually paying for it): Become the KING!!!