Tata Coffee launches coffee junction in Kochi
Business Standard — March 17, 2006

Tata Coffee Limited (TCL), the largest coffee plantation company in Asia, has launched Tata Mr. Bean Coffee Junction (CJ) in Kochi. This is the first time that such a product promotion initiative is being taken by TCL in India.

Addressing a press conference here today, M H Ashraff, managing director, TCL, said that the company plans to open more coffee junctions in the southern states, especially in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

He added that 30 existing coffee outlets in Tamil Nadu would be revamped according to the new concept and coffee junctions would be started soon. CJs would have the concept of 'a store in a store', as they would be opened inside a book shops or an internet cafe, where people make frequent visits.

TCL started the new coffee outlet in Kochi at D C Books, one of the largest booksellers and publishers in Kerala. Answering to a query, he said that Kochi was chosen to set up the outlet considering the growing coffee consumption in Kerala.

"The state accounts for the 15 percent of the total coffee consumption in south India, and hence, Kochi came up as the obvious choice for the company. Kochi is one of the fastest growing cities in India and one of the major test markets of new concepts and ideas" he added.

The target audience of CJs will be young housewives and students. The expansion of the network depends on its performance in Kochi. TCL also has plans to expand the outlets on a franchisee basis, though initially they would be set up as company-owned outlets. The outlets will have a data bank of customers and the perfect blended coffee according to their preference will be instantly roasted, ground and supplied.

He said that this would enable coffee junctions to provide highly personalised and customised service to customers every time.

He added that the consumers can not only choose from a range of coffees like Pea berry, Plantation and other quality coffees, but they would also get the option of testing their personalised blend prepared through high quality filter coffee machines. The price range would not be too high as TCL wants to attract more regular customers to the outlets, he added.