Is there scope for niche cafes in India? If so, how do we survive?

Is there scope for niche cafes in India? If so, how do we survive?

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Josh, the café market in India is a huge one. We did a market study in 2009 and discovered to our surprise that India could then accommodate 5,400 cafés whereas there were only 1,600 cafés in place by then. We did a recent update on this in October 2012 and the number India can take as of now stands at 6,100, whereas it now has has 2,248 cafés.

The scope for niche café chains is huge. There are opportunities in several verticals. These can be as many verticals as your imagination allows you to think up, and your business plan allows you to foray into. To list a few: The free-standing café on a high street, the mall café, the highway café, the petrol bunk café, the kiosk at an office, the bank café, the Gym Café … this list can go on and on.

And then there are small kiosks and little nooks within bigger establishments. The café is a strongly felt need in most such locations.

The total number of offices in India is humongous. As of today, each of them runs its own kitchen. The kitchens typically churn out quick-eat and quick-drink stuff. They make coffee, tea and serve up sandwiches made in electric toasters and dish out noodles from ready-to-make packs of Maggi or Indo Nissin.

These kitchens are messy, expensive, and need the services of two office boys or girls. Some have automated mildly by bringing in coffee and tea dispensing machines as well. The next step and opportunity at these offices of reasonable size is to outsource it all. Outsource it to a café chain at large.

The opportunity is as big as the money in your expansion kitty will allow you to spend. And you don’t survive here. You thrive. And the fittest will thrive. Not survive.(
 Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc).