Food, not beverages, will be the key offering
Bengaluru: Bengaluru, the city where Cafe Coffee Day was born, will witness the entry of a new player – The Baking Company, a brand owned and managed by Brigade Hospitality Services Ltd, a 48-crore enterprise of the Brigade Group.
TBC took shape as small bakery cafes and kiosks within three Brigade residential properties in Bengaluru in 2013, serving cup cakes, cookie, muffins, teacakes, samosas, sandwiches, puffs and rolls. Last year, TBC was launched in a standalone kiosk format created by award winning designer, Mike Foley, at the food court of a large commercial office complex -the World Trade Centre , followed by a second standalone Kiosk at Orion Mall, in the city. The brand will be launched in a newLounge format in South and North Bengaluru this year.
“We opened the sixth TBC out-let, which is a 90.sq-ft counter format at Orion East Mall’s food Brigade Hospitality Services Ltd court on Saturday. Our highest selling TBC outlet is the World typically includes a snack and a Trade Centre where we average sales of Rs. 35,000 a day at an average cheque value of Rs. 120. which typically includes a snack & a beverage, “Vineet Verma, Executive Director, Brigade Hospitality told Business Line.
He said that what began as an experiment selling a few bakery products has now metamorphosed into a full-fledged deli with tea cakes, burgers, breads, pastas, sandwiches, Indian snacks, crois-sants, desserts and assorted chocolates. To cater to the health-conscious generation, options such as multi-grain and whole wheat cookies, breads and cakes are available along with hot and cold beverages.
“We are in the final stages of Introducing a new format – TBC lounge, scheduled for launch in June/July which will be a part of the country’s first Indian Music Experience museum that the Brigade Group is opening in south Bengaluru. This has been designed as an alfresco lounge. seat 90-95 guests. Later this year, our second TBC Lounge with both indoor and alfresco seating to accommodate 50 guests will open at the Brigade Magnum commercial office complex in north Bengaluru,” said Verma.
Asked how TBC pricing compares with others in the same space, especially Café Coffee Day, Verma said, “TBC is not a cafe because our main offering is Deli and Patisserie as against safes where beverages are the mainstay. Our pricing is a notch lower than Cafe Coffee Day but, much higher than the local Iyengar bakeries.”
“The Indian Café market dominated by Cafe Coffee Day which has established over 1,5oo cafe footprint,stands at Rs. 650 crore and is growing at 8-10 percent year-on-year.
Brand and marketing consultant,Harish Bijoor pointed out that every city has niche players such as TBC, which typically operate out of premium captive locations such as, art galleries, five-star hotel; Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai, or Kanga Shankara Theatre in Bengaluru, providing the much needed variety in F&B that every city can absorb.
“Niche players such as TBC will thrive, but remain small and can by no means be compared with Cafe Coffee Day or Starbucks, which own core competence in the cafe business.” said Biioor.
Source: Hindu Business Line
