Coffee Day set to brew 3 premium formats

India's biggest cafe chain Coffee Day will unfurl three new premium formats as it brews the next phase of growth. Coffee Day Square, which will become the chain’s flagship outlets, will roll-out into four metros over the next six months, specialising in ‘single origin’ coffees—classic beans sourced from a single estate in a single country across the world—targeted at a more discerning consumer. Coffee Day Lounge will be cafes where beverage is paired with food, where people “meet over a meal” and not just coffee. The third format, still to be named, may be resembling a cafe nightclub and would look at offering a more vibrant experience with live DJ music and bar-stool seats. The decade-old Coffee Day, which heralded a cafe revolution in urban India, is also powering ahead with its existing core format that has carved out a place as ‘young hangouts’. At present, the chain has 694 outlets and is seen adding 20-25 every month in a slowing market. The 3,000 sqft first Coffee Day Square, the most premium of the emerging formats, is expected to open in Bangalore next month, to be followed by 8-10 more outlets across the four top metros in six months, Cafe Coffee Day director Alok Gupta said. “Cafe Coffee Day has been a youth hang-out, now Coffee Day Square will be a ‘coffee hangout’ for a more discerning, young-at-heart consumer who wants a truly great cup of coffee,” he added. Besides the single-origin brews from around the world, it will also propel India’s signature coffees — like Araku Emerald and Rajgiri Pearl—into the cafe culture. “The effort is to take consumers up the value chain and connect them with India’s coffee heritage in a contemporary way,” Mr Gupta said. The next in the line, Coffee Day Lounge, will be more focused on the dining experience. “This will be a gourmet format where we will look at food as a separate vertical. Here we will offer diet food, traditional foods and separate offerings for children, among others,” he said. The biggest youth puller, however, is likely to be the third format resembling a nightclub, which the company will start rolling out only after six months. Mr Gupta describes this as an outlet where people can “connect standing rather than sitting”.