American Coffee, Indian Beans – Coverage of TATA Starbucks Coffee in India

Is it the Brand name of Starbucks coffee or the Rich experience that makes it Starbucks

   Drum rolls and finally, Starbucks coffee emerges with the TATA alliance at Fort, Mumbai with it’s very first outlet. The wish of thousands of Indian’s and the long awaited FDI discussions dying slowly, 19^th October 2012 would now be written in history as Howard Schultz’s Starbucks’ entered India successfully.

The ambiance decor is done in similar fashion with reference to its worldwide retail presence such as the name and the logo placement. Once you are at Starbucks, coffee is not only the hot thing creating a tingling sensation on your tongue. Don’t be alarmed looking at a long queue outside but certainly you may enjoy the smell of roasted coffee beans swelling in the air. Enthusiasm of the long queues is kept up by the staff, as they provide these small cups of vanilla cream with chocolate sauce.

Entering the cafe would take you around 45 to 50 minutes but it’s worth the wait. An aura of Indian decor grabs your attention instantly. However there has been a lot of fusion art ware which gives it a sophisticated appeal. The wall paintings and the wooden furniture give a splash of warmth which is missing from most of the regular cafes in Mumbai. The place is smartly designed to accommodate a roughly around 120 people and still be a private affair for all of them.

On entry, you still have to face a small queuing situation while the table allocation is on the go. However keeping the visitor’s busy, the order is taken during your small wait in the inter parlor queue. Your name is written with a marker on the cup with your order. By the time, it’s your turn to be served the freshly brewed coffee, your name is called and you can sip your way to a relaxing table along with your pack.

The menu offers a very limited range of food and coffee servings which seems to be a strategic move by Mr. Schutlz’s as to not overload Starbucks during it’s initial stage. The Starbucks’ merchandise is placed near the queuing station so as to interest the people waiting for their turn could have a look at the mugs, coffee and etc. 

Price sensitive Indian Market has been a concern for global CEO’s from day one. Pricing of the coffee is quite competitive against the other cafes in Mumbai. A small cappuccino at CCD is around INR 75/- and tall cappuccino at Starbucks is just INR 115/- which falls in the ‘Will Buy’ zone for many of us. The staff at the Starbucks is not only of Indian origin but a mix of many cultures and creed. Some were from states itself.

It is a pleasure to see the manager of Starbucks having a small rendezvous session with the people in the queue. He certainly was keen to spread the word to check some great listings on the menu and consulted most of them to have the best variants of coffee that was served as a first time order.

 Definitely must have at Starbucks are: Hot Cappuccino, Hot Chocolate and Ice cold Coffee Frappe

(courtesy: Rasesh Raja- https://www.facebook.com/MoreOverCoffee)