Priced between INR 6-8,000/- for a 1.8-litre bottle, initially only 900 of each will be imported.
Toyota Motor Corporation’s hospitality arm Toyota Enterprises will soon launch the Japanese national beverages Shochu as well as rice wine Sake in India. It will be launched through a partnership between Bengaluru’s The Chancery Group of Hotels, Toyota Enterprises and Okanaga Co. Ltd.
Toyota Enterprises Managing Director Kazuyuki Kawai told BusinessLine that there is a huge Japanese population in Bengaluru, which is the first city where the two beverages will be introduced initially.
Shochu is a distilled beverage and contains about 25% of alcohol content, while Sake made from fermenting rice contains up to 20% of alcohol.
Pradeep Raju, Director, Chancery Group as well as Kawai said both the beverages will be rolled out across the country in phases. In phase-I, it will be sold for guests of The Chancery in Bengaluru. The phase-II will involve expansion of sales and availability of the beverages in retail outlets, hotels and restaurants across Karnataka. The phase-III will constitute expansion in India through national partnerships.
Importing and distributing rights will remain with Chancery. The beverages will be priced between INR 6-8,000/- for a 1.8-litre bottle. Later, smaller bottles will be introduced. The sales target is INR 9-10 lakh a month and initially 900 bottles of both the beverages will be imported for the first six months.
The Chancery will invest INR 45 lakh in the preliminary stage and about 1,600 litres of the beverage will be imported in the first phase. “Eventually, with greater popularity and acceptance of the brands we shall introduce more brands in our offerings with more investments being poured into for expansion,” Raju said.
