'We Plan to Reach a 500-store Count in the Next Two Years'

The 23-year-old brand now is gearing up for its next phase of expansion and aims to reach the 500-store mark in India by 2024

- Sanya Arora

The famous 'Boston Tea Party' in 1773, when colonists dumped a whole shipment of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of a new tea tax and started drinking brewed coffee instead, commenced the epoch of coffee-culture globally. India, picked up the trend with the evident rise of new coffee chains coming up and expanding their footprint. One such brand which led this insurrection of coffee café ethos in the Indian market was Barista.

Barista is among the coffee chain pioneers credited to popularizing the coffee culture in a tea-drinking country like India. However, in its quest, Barista has gone through a rollercoster ride in its decades journey and has changed its ownership four times. Currently, Barista is India's second-largest coffee chain operator with 350 outlets, after Café Coffee Day which has 1,384 outlets as of February 2023.

Barista is also present in Maldives and Sri Lanka, where it is the largest coffee chain. In Sri Lanka, Barista has been named the most popular service provider in the cafes and coffeehouses category for 2021 in the exclusive customer experience ranking announced by LMD (Lanka Monthly Digest).

The 23-year-old brand now is gearing up for its next phase of expansion and aims to reach the 500-store mark in India by 2024. In an exclusive interaction, Rajat Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer, Barista, spoke to IMAGES Retail about the brand's journey, growth and expansion plans.

How challenging was it to build Barista as a brand in a tea-loving country like India? 

India is largely a tea-drinking nation, even today. I don't think this is going to change at a large level. The culture of coffee shops is not just about the beverage, it is about the entire package-community building, conversations, and an engaging experience both on social and business community levels.