Information Memorandum March-101

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Transcript of Information Memorandum March-101

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Busi n ess Overview

Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co Ltd., (ABC) is a unique player in coffee, with a multi-channel strategy encompassing cafes, vending machines, Xpress kiosks and F & G outlets for marketing filter coffee powder.

ABC currently has 915 cafes, 14,306 vending machines, 999 xpress kiosks and 409 F&Goutlets & 3,3434 Gemini Machines (as of 31

st March, 2010).

The turnover of ABC for the last 5 years is given below:

Retail and Export Division breakup of turnover for year ended (FY ’10) is given below.

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ABC has lined up an aggressive expansion plan for the next five years. Details are given below.

Projected Closing Number of units

Divisions 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Cafés-

Xpress- Kiosks

Vending- Machines F & G- Outlets/Machines

Exports - Tonnes

Int. Cafes

1131

1049

16308

437/5292

13805

14

1431

1349

19808

477/6392

13929

19

1751

1649

23308

540/7592

14170

19

2066

1949

26808

603/8792

14416

19

2376

2249

30308

666/9992

14666

19

Gross Revenue Projection

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His t ory of ABC : -

Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co. Ltd., (ABC)was promoted by Mr. V G Siddhartha in the year1993 for exporting coffee beans. Coffee procurement network and processing facilities were setup at Chikmaglur and Hassan to enable export of large volumes.

Since 1995 ABC forayed into retailing of coffee in different formats like café, vending machines, xpress kiosks and selling F & G powder all under the brand name “Coff e e Da y ”

Present Corp o r ate S truct u re : -

ABC is the flagship company. Mr. V G Siddhartha and Associates are the major share holders with 65.47% stake. Other investors hold 34.53%. The list of subsidiaries and the holding structure is given below:-

Amalgamated Holdings Ltd., (AHL):- AHL is a 100% Subsidiary ofABC. The Company operates F & G outlets.

Ganga Coffee Curing Works Ltd., (GCCL):- Is a 100% subsidiary of ABC and owns and operates coffee curing works and coffee roasting plant at Hassan.

Coffee Lab Ltd.,:- Is a 100% subsidiary of AHL, engaged in research and development on coffee.

A.N Coffeeday International Ltd.-Cyprus :- Is a 100% subsidiary of ABCand is the holding company for all International operations.

Coffee Day Gastronomie Und Kaffeehandles GmbH- Vienna(Austria):- Is a 100% subsidiary of A N Coffeeday International Ltd., The company owns and operates cafes at Vienna, Austria.

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ABC’s h ol d ing s t ruct u re

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Mana g e ment:-

The Chairman of ABC, V.G. Siddhartha(VGS), has a long association with coffee, given the family’s interests in coffee plantations in Southern India for more than 125 years. V.G Siddhartha saw tremendous opportunity in the coffee business, even prior to liberalization of the coffee sector in India and started acquiring more coffee estates. With the Government announcing liberalization of coffee trade in India, VGS set up ABC in1993 to export coffee beans and later forayed into retailing in different formats which heralded the Coffee Day movement in India. For his relentless efforts in this direction, VGS was recognized as “The Entrepreneur of the Year” by Economic Times in September 2003.

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VGS has put together a highly competent management team, which has displayed its capability by establishing the “Coffee Day” brand and leveraging it across multiple products and channels. The management team comprises of professionals with good past work experience.

A brief description of the qualifications and experience of Directors and key members of the ABC team is provided below:

V . G. Siddhartha-Chairman, A B C G r oup :V.G. Siddhartha, 48, hails from a family of Coffee Planters from Karnataka in Southern India. After obtaining Masters in Economics, VGS joined J. M Financial Services-Mumbai in the Equities Division; VGS has been a highly successful equity investor. Recognizing the impending transformation in the technology sector, he invested in several start-up companies, through Global Technology Ventures Ltd (GTV). GTV, as angel investor, had invested in start-up companies like Kshema Technologies, MindTree Consulting, ITTIAM and Ivega Corporation. GTV exited some of these investments at good valuations. GTV through its 100 % subsidiary viz., Tanglin Developments Ltd owns a technology park in Bangalore spread over 130 acres. The tech park is an approved SEZ.

Alok Gupta- Director, Café D i v i s ion Mr. Alok Gupta, as a Director heads the Café Coffee Day division. A post graduate from IMT, Ghaziabad, has worked for 21 years with several companies viz. Autometers, Dabur, Shaw Wallace and The UB Group having handled different areas of business like strategic planning, operations, sales and marketing. He has also completed Advanced Management Program from The Harvard Business School. His stint at the UB Group lasted 14 years, major part of which was with the flagship company ‘United Spirits Limited”. As part of the management committee member at the UB Group he played a crucial role in areas of global strategy including the launch of Kingfisher Airlines. His last assignment at the UB Group was as Chief Operating Officer of Whyte and Mackay based at Scotland.

Malavika Hegde-Director. Malavika Hegde wife of Mr. V G Siddhartha aged around 42 years actively involved in day-to-day running of the company, she is a graduate with commerce background, She is a director in the following companies.

a) Global Technology Ventures Limited b) Coffee Day Holdings Pvt. Ltd.,c) Coffee Day Pvt Ltd.,d) Sivan Securities (Mangalore) Pvt Ltd., e) Rajgiri & Sankhan Estates Pvt Ltd.,f) Sampigehutty Estates Pvt. Ltd.,g) Coffeeday Consolidations Pvt. Ltd.,h) Bangalore Best Veterinary Products Pvt. Ltd.,

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Busi n ess Div i sio n s

ABC has five distinct business divisions, each of which is a separate profit centre.

These are:

Café Xpress Fresh & Ground Vending Procurement,

Processing & Exports

A detailed description of each of these business divisions is provided in the following pages.

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C AFÉ D I VI SI ON

The Opportunity in th e Café Segment:-

The growth in café segment has been spurred by several factors including increasing demand for innovative, sophisticated products as well as growing demand for specialty cuisine and beverage outlets as opposed to broad-menu food outlets, Starbucks is the world’s largest owner/operator of cafes with over 14000 outlets across the globe. Other major café chains include dried rich and Tully’s in USA, Costa Coffee in the UK and Doutours in Japan.

The key positioning platforms for these specialty outlets is good quality product offerings coupled with an ambience that promotes relaxation and indulgence as evident below.

The Café segment has already taken off in India as well, on the back of the significant shifts in income and demographic patterns, which together are leading to increased urbanization, higher disposable incomes and growing exposure to consumption trends. Increasingly Indian consumers, similar to their Western counterparts are seeking innovative, specialty foods and beverages. This in turn has translated into growing popularity of the café concept in India across the country evidenced by the growth of Café Coffee Day.

Café Coffee Day is the clear market leader in India with Barista the other café chain (taken-over recently by Lavazza) operating only 150 cafes. Sensing the opportunity for setting up more cafes in India, Starbucks has announced plans to

enter India by Dec ’07. Considering the rapidly growing café culture in India, ABC feels there is enough room for many players, including Starbucks.

Ca f é Cof f ee D a y - Background The Café Coffee Day division was started in November, 1996 with the first outlet located on Brigade Road, Bangalore. As on 31st March, 2010, the ABC had 915 cafés across 130 cities/towns in the country.

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Geographical s p read of Cafes

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International operations.

In addition, ABC through its subsidiary in Austria, has setup 4 cafes in Vienna. The first one was setup in Nov ’05, the second one in Sep ’06, the third one in Feb’08 and fourth one in Oct ’08. These cafes have received good response on account ofhigh quality beverages and food varieties apart from the ambience. Locations of these cafes are as follows.

1) Tegetthoffstrasse1010 Vienna, Innere Stadt –Austria

2) UniversityDr-Karl-Lueger-Ring-10, 1010 Vienna.

3) Wahringerstrasse 221090 WienAustria

4) Shopping Center Nord Top 121Ignaz Kock Strasse 11210 Wien

In Nov, 2006 ABC opened its first outlet in Karachi, Pakistan. The second one was opened in April 2007. Both are operated by franchisees.

Positioning:-CCD targets students and young professional in the age group of 18 to 35 years. CCD is positioned as the neighborhood café, offering attractively priced products in a warm ambience, which heightens the pleasure of drinking coffee. The cafes blend exciting design elements with functionality to create an atmosphere where people can unwind.

The tagline of CCD is ;

On an average, over 1,25,000 customers visit CCD every day. Over 70% of customers are repeat customers who frequent the cafes more than thrice a week. The cafes are open throughout the year and around 12 to 16 hours per day depending on the location.

The age profile of the visitor is depicted in the following table.

Age Profile % of visitors

15 to 19 25%

20 to 24 38%

25 to 29 23%

30 + 14%

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Café format s : -

The Company has adopted various formats for its cafes. All cafes are company owned, company operated and are on leased premises. The leases are typically for 3 to 5 years renewable at the option of the lessee up to 10 years. The various formats are as follows:

H i g h S tr e et : Typically these are located in commercial shopping complexes and key in-city hubs with high footfall. The sizes are normally in excess of 1500 Sq. ft. & each city will have at least one such café which acts as the brand ambassador in that city.

Gar d en Cafes : These cafes typically have a large outdoor seating giving it a unique ambience.

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Lou n ge Cafes : These cafes are designed to provide coffee lovers a more relaxed atmosphere over a delicious cup of coffee.

· Fashion/Music/Book Stores : These are located within a store.

Hi g h w ay Ca f es : These are generally constructed over a large piece of land taken on lease. This offers a good stopover with a leisurely ambience apart from world class restrooms to freshen up.

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Ca f e s at Gas S t atio n s : CCD has tied up with Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and ONGC to set up cafes at their outlets.

Airp o r t Cafes : Generates high volumes.

Ca f e s at M a lls : CCD has targeted every major mall coming up in all cities across the country.

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Location Identification:-

ABC has a full fledged business development team. The team has executives located in all major cities engaged in identifying locations across the region for setting up cafes. Initial enquiries leading to serious negotiations are short listed and are placed before the Site Selection Committee, for final clearance. The Committee is headed by the Chairman.

Setting up of Cafes.

Once the site is selected the projects team gets into action. The team has in-house architects, designers and engineers who co-ordinate with outside contractors to get the café ready within 30-45 days from signing-up of locations.

Outlet M a nagement

ABC has consciously adopted a strategy to own and manage all cafes as opposed to franchising. This facilitates greater quality and service. Typically a café is headed by a Café Manager with a team of 4 - 8 members depending on the size. There will be an Area Manager overseeing 5 - 8 cafés who in turn will be reporting to the City Manager. Cities/Towns are clubbed under a region headed by Regional Managers reporting to National Head -Operations.

Sales Mix:-

Typically the sales mix of cafes is as follows:

a) Beverages --- 59%b) Food --- 35%c) Merchandize --- 6%

Bevera g es : Cafes offer a range of beverages comprising of a wide varieties which include hot and cold coffee beverages, coladas, fruit-crushes and frappe etc. These can also be tailor-made to individual preferences for special flavors and cream toppings.

F o o d : Cafes offer a range of food products which are suitable accompaniments to beverages. The food range includes pastries, sandwiches, samosas, pizzas, burgers, rolls, submarines apart from ice-creams, and Biriyanis.

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Food is sourced from vendors who can adhere to the strict quality norms laid down by ABC. Given the absence of vendor with national presence ABC has entered into multiple arrangements, one for each city. Most of the food items in the menu are common across cafes. However depending on the local taste changes are made in the menu. Recently at select outlets light meals have been introduced.

Mer c handi z e : - Cafés also offer several products under the Coffee Day brand like mugs, coffee-filters, apparels such as T-shirts, caps apart from cookies, mints, coffee-powder etc. The objective to sell merchandize is to enhance the visibility of the brand –Coffee Day.

Technology:-

Cafés have been equipped with state-of-the-art Wi-Fi enabled POS terminals. These are integrated with printer and smart card reader for order taking cum billing.

Manp o w er & Training:-

The total strength of this division is 6070 personnel which includes 4656 direct and 1414 outsourced as on 31st March ’09.

Employees managing cafes undergo an intensive training programme upon induction. The training covers various aspects including taking order from customers, preparing the beverage, cleanliness, efficiency of service apart from taking customer feedback. Employee performance is continuously monitored.

Operational Ef ficien cy and service

ABC is attempting to maximize operational efficiency through several measures. The key raw material-coffee beans- is sourced through ABC’s procurement set-up, which translates into lower costs as compared to non-integrated coffee players. Food products are delivered directly to the cafes and the respective suppliers ensure timely availability and freshness of these products. The consumption patterns are tracked in each store on a daily basis, which enables demand forecasting and reduces wastage.

Each café is evaluated and graded on service parameters and incentives for superior performance have been built in to the employees’ compensation package. The incentives are paid to the entire team managing the café in order to encourage teamwork.

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Marketing & Pr o m otion The focus of the marketing and promotion activity has been to increase the visibility of the Café Coffee Day Brand and get closer to the customer. The Company has primarily relied on ‘word of mouth’ to increase branch awareness. With this objective in view, management endeavors to ensure customer satisfaction which not only translates into a repeat visit but also positive feedback to other potential customers. Besides, the merchandise sold through the cafes also aims to enhance brand visibility outside the café.

The company also undertakes promotion schemes on a periodic basis, which are as follows:

Special promotional schemes such as free sampling, attractive introductory offers at the time of Café launches and at the time of new product launches.

Special schemes on festive occasions such as Diwali, Valentine’s Day and NewYear’s Day.

Café Division Organisational Structure:- The Café Division is headed by MD. He is assisted by a team of Professionals specializing in key functions,

Alok GuptaDirector

Venu MadhavOperations & Sales Ramakrishna

Marketing

Shyamala DeshpandeHR & Training

Tarun SarafFinance & Accounts

Kiran ThamannaGM Projects

Satyananda B SSCM & Maintenance

Ramchandar RamanFood & Beverage

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Mr.Venu M adhav – Head, O p eratio n s & Sales. Venu looks after operations and sales at Café Coffee Day. This involves monitoring performance of café and overseeing operational issues. Prior to taking over operations at Café Coffee Day Venu was part of the Exports team and was heading Packaged Coffee Division which was later merged with F & G. Prior to joining ABC in 1996, Venu was working in the marketing division of IPCL, Mumbai. Venu is a post graduate in management from BITS, Pilani.

Ms. Shy a mala Deshpande - HR & Training Shyamala has been working with Café Coffee Day since October 2000. She has a total work experience of more than 16 years and was associated with Hotel Central Park, Bangalore as an Executive Housekeeper before joining CCD. She passed her Diploma in Hotel Management & Catering Technology from IHMCTAN and has a Masters in Tourism Management from IGNOU.

Mr. T a run Saraf - Finance Tarun heads the Finance Department of Café Coffee Day. He has been associated with Café Coffee Day since March ‘09. He is a Chartered Accountant & was working with InCap Contract Manufacuring Services Private Limited before joining Café Coffee Day.

Mr. Sathyananada. B. S - SCM and Maintenance Sathyananada has been with Café Coffee Day since the year 2000. He was associated with M/s. Manju Enterprises as an Administrative Assistant before coming on board with CCD. His academic qualifications include M.A. from Mysore Open University along with B.Ed from Bangalore University and B.A from Kuvempu University.

Recogni t ion for Ca f é Co f fee Day: Café Coffee Day has won several recognitions / awards for its efforts as detailed below:

Café Coffee Day named ‘The second most respected company in food retail inIndia’ by Business World 2006.

Cafe Coffee Day named ‘Food Services Retailer of the Year’ and‘Exclusive Brand Retailer of the Year’ at the 1st ICICI Bank Retail ExcellenceAwards in 2005.

Cafe Coffee Day was rated the No.3 Food Services Brand in theBusiness World and Brand Equity Surveys in the year 2004.

Café Coffee Day ranked as the 3rd best “Retail F & B" chain in India in the BrandEquity Survey in 2004.

Café Coffee Day has won all the top awards in the India Barista Championship for 3 years in a row - 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Café Coffee Day representative had gone on to represent India at WBC 2003 (World Barista Championship) winning silver medal in 2002 and 5th place in 2004 for the country

The total strength of this division is 7465 personnel, which includes 5663 direct employees and 1802 outsourced employees as on 31st March ’10

G ro w th of c a f e s The growth of cafes over the last three years has been as follows

Number of cafes

761

915

218 289

402563

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Xpress – BackgroundXPRESS DIVISION

The Xpress division was started in February, 2003 with its first kiosk set-up in Bangalore. As on 31st March, 2010, the company operated 999 Kiosk across various locations in the country

Coffee Day Xpress is a small format convenience café serving hot & cold beverages and ready to eat foods and thus, servicing the need of ‘people on the go’ and is a perfect value add to other retail formats as a store-in-store café.

Coffee Day Xpress is a step towards realizing ABC’s mission to be present at all points of the value chain. This format offers ready to eat food items and hot and cold coffee and milk shakes brewed by indigenously developed vending machines, Moreover, the menu is customized keeping in mind regional preference and is changed at intervals to prevent “food fatigue” locations are so identified that they support ‘high people traffic’. Shopping malls and complexes, move theaters and multiplexes, stores, airports, petrol stations and educational institutions form ideal sites. The kiosk, which has been designed keeping in mind international formats, belong to two types, viz. indoor kiosk outlets in retail marts and outdoor kiosk. The modern graphics on the kiosk reflects the lifestyle of the urban consumer.

These graphics and bright colours along with the food display case make this kiosk small oasis in crowded office area and malls.

The Coffee Day Xpress is modeled as ‘Company Owned” and ‘Franchised” presently out of 999, company owned are 708 and franchised are 291. Certain alliances, for example the one with BPCL, HPCL, IOC & Railway retail outlets have been entered into in order to widen the reach of the division. The product proposition is of hygiene, speed of service, superior quality, affordability and freshness.

The Company has won a tender from IRCTC (Railways) to set up 150 kiosks across major railway stations. These will not only ensure higher sales but offer greater brand visibility.

Organi z ational Structure

The Xpress Division is headed by Mr. Puttaraj. The current structure of the Xpress division is given below.

A G PuttarajHead

Anand HangalHR & Admin

Pramod K G Finance Manager

Kiran M K Business Development

The total strength of this division is 930 personnel, which includes 193 direct employees and 737 outsourced employees as on 31st March ‘10.

Growth of Xpress kiosks

The growth in number of operational kiosks for the last 5 years is given below:

Number of Kiosks

790922

999

534

300 327

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

VENDING DIVI S ION

Vendi ng Operati ons-Backgro und

ABC ventured into vending in line with its overall objective of providing consumers an authentic coffee experience, with fresh filter coffee on offer, as opposed to instant coffee provided by other players.

ABC has indigenously developed its own vending machines. The machines vend hot coffee, and teas of different flavours. ABC has two types of vending machines as given below.

A: Liquid Coffee: This machine vends coffee using coffee decoction and a premix of milk powder and sugar.

B : B2C (Bean to Cup): This machine vends coffee from freshly ground beans giving an authentic coffee experience.

As on March 31st 2010 ABC had 14,306 operational vending machines.

ABC has a network of distributors. ABC places the vending machines through the distributors with corporates and retailers, against a security deposit. ABC sells coffee beans and other consumables to these corporates and retailers. ABC maintains these machines through its own service network.

The sales team at the vending division co-ordinates with the distributor for identifying potential end users of the vending machine and a three way tie-up is made between the company, the distributor and the end user (Corporates/Retailers). The supplies of coffee beans and consumables are made at a discount on the MRP to the distributor to provide a margin.

ABC has a significant procurement advantage over its competitors, having access to the requisite variety of beans at a far lower cost, given the absence of any cost-build up due to intermediation and multiple handling.

Vending: The Potential

With increasing urbanization and more time spent outside home, vending machines are becoming an increasingly important distribution channel for beverages given the convenience to consume, while on the move.

India currently has approximately 50,000 vending machines. Major players in this segment are HLL and Nestle. Each is estimated to have about 15,000 operational machines. Other significant players include Tata Coffee (3500 machines) and Fresh & Honest (2500 machines). However, the potential market is believed to be much larger at about 3x the current size. With the exception of Fresh & Honest, all other machines offer instant coffee.

Organizational structure

The vending division is headed by Mr. Shankarnarayanan

The current structure of the vending division is given below:

ShankarnarayananHead

Shruthi Agarval Marketing – Asst. Manager

SmithaHR

Sundaram P K S Finance & Accounts

The total strength of this division is 1134 personnel, which includes 264 direct employees and 870 outsourced employees as on 31st March ‘10

The number of Vending Machines for the last 5 years are given below:

Number of Machines

72148615 9222

10916

1310414306

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

FRESH & GROUND DIVISION

Fresh & Ground (F & G) Divi s i on – Background :-

ABC forayed into coffee retailing in 1995 in Southern India- the prime coffee drinking region in the country. The aim was to provide the filter coffee drinking consumer with a variety of blends of freshly roast and ground coffee powder. Fresh coffee powder is believed to provide a superior taste as opposed to packaged/instant coffee.

Currently there are 389 F & G outlets located in key residential areas across the country, Out of 389outlets, 329 are self-managed outlets and 60 are franchised. The F & G outlets are operated by Amalgamated Holdings Ltd. which is a 100% subsidiary of ABC. Typically, most outlets in large cities and towns are owned and the franchisee route is adopted in smaller cities.

F & G P o s itioning:- The F & G outlet aims to be the friendly neighborhood coffee outlet that understands the tastes and preferences of its consumers, and offers products tailored to individual palates.

F & G Product mix :-

F & G outlets offer about 25 distinct blends of fresh and ground coffee, using both Arabica and Robusta varieties. Blends are prepared with the assistance of Coffee Labs, which are then tested by consumer panel. The blends are finalized based on the consumer preferences revealed through the consumer panel test. F & G outlets offer a product mix tailored for customers in different regions.

Packaged Coffee :- The F & G Division also markets packaged coffee through retail distribution network with the brand name “Coffee Day Perfect” The product has greater chicory content ( 47 % ).

Focus on Quality and Service:- ABC is highly quality conscious and aims at providing consumers fresh coffee of the requisite quality. This is one of the prime reasons underlying replenishment of stock once in 3-5 days in the outlets other measures to keep a strict control on quality include obtaining samples from outlets incognito and checking them for pre-set quality standards. In addition to that, the company invites feedback from customers- at each shop customers are encouraged to fill the suggestion slips which are actioned upon by the management.

Organizational Structure

The F & G division is headed by Mr Jayanth.

C J JayanthHead

RavichandraMarketing Manager

Sandeep Hegde Y G HR

Narayana BhatFinance & Accounts

Venkatesh BabuSystems

The total strength of this division is 692 personnel, which includes 177 direct employees and 515 outsourced employees as on 31st March ’10

The growth in number of F & G outlets for the last 5 years is given below:

Number of Outlets

330 347391 399 389

409

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

PROCUREMENT, PROCES S I NG & EXP O RTS

Pr o c ure m e n t & Pr o duction :-

One of the key differentiators for ABC is its well- established procurement set up on the back of the promoters’ long association with coffee plantations. ABC procures coffee from three key coffee- growing districts in Karnataka-Hassan, Chikmagalur and Coorg. The company has 38 agents working exclusively for it, who collect the coffee from this area and bring it to the curing works at Hassan and Chikmagalur on a commission basis.

ABC announces, on a daily basis, the price at which it would buy coffee from planters. This price is calculated after deducting its own costs (such as freight, curing etc.,) and margin, from the previous day’s closing price of Arabica and Robusta on the New York and London exchanges.

ABC has won the trust of many planters through a plethora of services and facilities offered to the planters. These include

Consignment facility- for planters who do not wish to sell their produce at the current prices, ABC offers facilities to cure and store the produce till such time when the planter finds the prices attractive. This has proved to be an excellent strategy to ensure that the planter finally sells his produce to ABC.

Credit Facilities ( Fertilizer and Picking advance)

Providing of free packing and transportation of raw coffee beans.

Incentives for better quality beans.

Significa n t advantages to ABC in procure m ent- in terms of quality as well as co s t

The extensive procurement set-up provides access to a wide mix of varieties, including superior varieties of coffee cultivated in the highlands, which would not be feasible for players sourcing smaller quantities. The wide mix of varieties allows it to prepare special blends, which is not possible for other player who would need to source different varieties at varying rates from a vast number of sources.

Curi n g of Co f fee

ABC cures its coffee in-house, at its plants at Chikmagalur and Hassan both plants have state of the art machinery, including optic grading facilities. The plants have a curing capacity of 50,000 MT per annum which can be extended to handle upto 60,000 MT per annum.

Roasting of coffee

ABC has set up state-of-the-art roasting and packing facility at Hassan which caters to the entire requirement of retail divisions. Additional roasting line has been imported for augmenting the capacity & will be commissioned shortly.

EXPORTS:-Exports Background:-

ABC is one of India’s leading exporter of Coffee averaging 15000 tonnes of processed coffee annually. ABC has a dominant presence in all Indian grades, both commercial as well as specialty, spread over 4 basic varieties:-

Arabica Parchment Arabica Cherry Robust Parchment Robusta Cherry

Export Division: Stru c t ure

The Export Division is headed by Rajeev Gupta, along with Mr. Sadananda handlingExport Finance relationship with planters.

Total strength of the division is 600 including 100 direct employees.

Expansion Plans

The major focus in the coming years would on increasing value added exports (roast and packed beans) to earn better margins.

Res e arch & Dev e lop m ent:-

ABC set up Coffee Labs Ltd in 1996 with world-class research and product development capabilities available in- house, which provides a significant competitive edge. Headed by Mrs. S Menon, a renowned coffee expert with

over 30 years of experience in the industry the lab is engaged in following activities:

Coffee evaluation- evaluation of moisture content, visual evaluation and defect count analysis, cup quality evaluation.

Training – conduction training programmes and workshops for growers on processing techniques and technology for quality upgradation.

Blend development- for all retail divisions of ABC

In addition ABC has set up an in-house testing lab at Chikmaglur to provide on-line testing services for processing and roasting units.

www.coffee d ay.com