Welcome to Cafe Coffee Day, India's favourite coffee shop where the young at heart unwind.

We're
a division of India's largest coffee conglomerate, the Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company
Limited (ABCTCL). Popularly known as Coffee Day, it's a Rs. 750 crore, ISO 9002 certified
company. With Asia's second-largest network of coffee estates (10,500 acres) and 11,000 small
growers, Coffee Day has a rich and abundant source of coffee. This coffee goes all over the world
to clients across the USA, Europe and Japan, making us one of the top coffee exporters in the
country.

Our mission is a simple one.

Study Contents
1. Introduction
2. CCD – an established brand image in India
3. CCD’s wide network – the anytime, anywhere cafe
4. Exhibit 1: Total number of stores/cafes of Café Coffee
Day and its competitors
5. 1996 – 2008, CCD’s first store launch to building a
strong competitive advantage
6. Innovative formats to woo new customers
7. Reinforcing brand image with the cluster approach
strategy
8. Company-owned stores instead of franchises to not
dilute brand value
9. Lower pricing and ‘no-segmentation’ approach
10. From a largely south Indian retail chain to a
national brand
11. Co-branding
12. Reinvigorating the brand and taking it to the next
level
13. Projecting a feeling of togetherness
14. Silent brew masters – special employee program
 15. Background Note (History of Cafe Coffee Day)
16. Café Coffee Day – Quick Facts
17. Exhibit 2: Various store/café formats of Café
Coffee Day
18. Exhibit 3: Different divisions of Café Coffee Day
19. Exhibit 4: Brand Logo of CCD and its significance
20. Exhibit 5: Sample Consumer profile by Age group
at Café Coffee Day
Case Study Abstract
This case study covers the following issues:
 Examine and analyze Cafe Coffee Day’s brand
strategy in India, its success and future challenges
Introduction
“CCD today has become the largest youth aggregator,
and from a marketing stand point, the success has come
by focusing on the 3As: Accessibility, Affordability and
Acceptability.”- Bidisha Nagaraj, the Marketing president
of Cafe Coffee Day
“Although demographically, a typical consumer would be
male or female between 15-29 years of age, belonging to
middle or upper middle class, we call our consumers
young or young at heart. We are about juke boxes, good
and affordable coffee and food. The brand fit is with youth
or the young at heart. So we often look out for brands that
are aspirational in nature.” – Sudipta Sen Gupta,
Marketing head, Café Coffee Day.
CCD – an established brand image in India
Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) has an established brand image
in India and ranks No 2 in the Brand Equity’s Most
Trusted Brands 2008 survey – in the food services
category. Rival Barista is at No 5. CCD has been able to
make a connection with the Indian consumers,
predominantly among the youth. CCD is the market leader
in India and was awarded the ‘Exclusive Brand Retailer
of the Year’ by ICICI Bank in its Retail Excellence Awards
2005 for the organized retail sector.
CCD’s wide network – the anytime, anywhere cafe
CCD has been able to make its brand presence felt
through the sheer number of stores. CCD has 620 cafes at
present and it has ambitious plans to launch more than
900 cafes by the end of the current financial year. This
means launching one store every other day which is not
surprising from a company which launched a cafe (in
2005) in Vienna, the coffee capital of the world. CCD also
has three cafes in Vienna, and two in Karachi, Pakistan.
Lagging behind CCD in the Indian market, Barista has
about 200 cafés, Java Green (around 75 cafés) and
Mocha (around 25 cafés). The Indian organized sector has
potential for around 5,000 cafés but fewer than 1,000
cafés exist currently.
Exhibit 1: Total number of stores/cafes of Café Coffee Day
and its competitors
Download case study pdf to read more
Case Study Keywords
Cafe Coffee Day, CCD, Amalgamated Bean Coffee
Trading Company Ltd., ABCTCL, V G Siddhartha, Café
Beat, Brand Equity’s Most Trusted Brands 2008 survey,
Bidisha Nagaraj – Marketing president, brand image,
brand management, Exclusive Brand Retailer of the Year,
Barista, Java Green, Mocha, company owned stores,
national brand, south Indian retail chain, Chikmagalur, Co-
branding, international brand consultant Landor, Silent
brew masters – special employee program, a feeling of
togetherness, Coffee Day Exports, Coffee Day Xpress,
Coffee Day Take Away (coffee vending machines), Coffee
Day Fresh ‘n Ground (ground coffee retail outlets), Coffee
Day FMCG (packaged filter coffee powder)
Case Updates/Snippets
 CCD’s vision: To be the only office for dialogue over
a cup of coffee
 CCD’s Expansion Strategy: Cafe Coffee Day has
around 821 outlets in 115 cities in India. CCD plans to
take the total number of cafes to 1,000 by March 2010
and double it to 2,000 by 2014. In October 2009, CCD
announced that it will increase its international
presence from the current six outlets in Vienna and
Pakistan to a total of 50 stores across Europe and
Middle East in two years time.
 International coffee chains in India – Recent
entrants in the Indian market include Gloria Jeans,
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Illy Café.
 Operating Formats – Café Coffee Day operates in
both regular (Coffee Day Square) and premium
formats (Lounge).
 Highway Cafes: In 2004, CCD began cafes on
highways. By 2009, the total number of Café Coffee
 Day highway cafes rose to 30 owing to the
overwhelming response it received from travellers.
 CCD’s new brand identity: In October 2009, CCD
unveiled a new brand logo, a Dialogue Box, to weave
the concept of ‘Power of Dialogue’. In accordance
with this new brand identity, CCD planned to give all
its existing outlets a new look by the end of 2009.
Cafés would be redesigned to suit different
environments such as book, music garden and cyber
cafes suitable for corporate offices, university campus
or neighborhood. The change plan included new
smart menu, furniture design, among others.
 Coffee consumption in India is growing at 6% per
annum compared to the global 2% plus.
 Milk production in India – India is the largest
producer and consumer of milk in the world with 98%
of milk being produced in rural India.
 Coffee production in India – India ranks sixth as a
producer of coffee in the world accounting for 4.5% of
the global coffee production. India has about 170,000
coffee farms cultivating around 900,000 acres of
coffee trees.
 CCD’s International Expansion Strategy – In June,
2010 Cafe Coffee Day chain acquired Emporio for Rs
15 crore. Emporio is a Czech Republic-based café
chain present at 11 locations. CCD plans to co-brand
the chain as Café Coffee Day Emporio and later
transition it to Café Coffee Day. CCD is also present
in Vienna. The company wants to expand in the East
 European region, West Asia and the Asia-Pacific
region.
 Cafe Market in India – In 2008, according to
Technopak Advisors, the Indian food servcies market
– cafes, full-service restaurants, fast-food
outlets/quick-service restaurants was estimated to be
$6 billion (Rs 26,000 crore) with organized players
taking 13% of the market. (By 2014 this number is
expected to increase up to 27%.). According to
Technopak Advisors, the café market in India is
estimated at $150 million (Rs 678 crore) and growing
at 40 per cent over the last five years.
 Organized coffee market in India: The organized
coffee market in India is about Rs 600 crores. This is
approximately 20% of the total domestic coffee
consumption (Rs 3,000 crores).
 New Entrants in Indian Coffee Cafe market: In
early 2011, Hindustan Unilever, the FMCG giant
planned to open a cafe outlet in Mumbai named ‘Bru
World Café‘ to popularize its in-house coffee brand
Bru (HUL’s only coffee brand sold only in India).