The Hindu Business Line : Lavazza setting up new roasting facility in Chennai

Bangalore, Oct. 9 The Italian coffee conglomerate Lavazza SpA is setting up a large roasting facility at Porur in Chennai to cater to its growing needs in the domestic market. Lavazza, which also owns coffee chain Barista, plans to open another 100 outlets over the next two to three years.

Mr Luca Maulini, Business Intelligence and Planning Manager at Lavazza, said the company saw significant headroom for growth in the Indian market, where the per capita coffee consumption stood at 82 grams as against 5 kg in Italy or 11-12 kg in Scandinavian countries.

More investments

“By 2020, we would like to make Lavazza as India’s favourite coffee,” Mr Maulini said, adding that the company would invest in expanding its operations in India. However, he did not comment on the investments.

Lavazza, which acquired Barista and Fresh & Honest to kick-start its operations in India, currently runs about 200 retail coffee outlets. Besides the cafés, segments such as hotel, restaurant and offices offer significant market potential. “The market is not yet saturated in India and that the company would be looking at tier-II cities for expansion,” Mr Maulini said.

Second in Porur

Lavazza currently operates a 300-tonne roasting facility at Porur. The new larger facility north of Porur would be ready in 24 months, he said.

Lavazza aims to make India among its top five markets by 2020. Currently, India accounts for 2-3 per cent of Lavazza’s turnover of €1 billion. The company earns 65 per cent of its revenues from Italy, the largest market followed by France and Germany.

“As we expand our operations in India, we would be increasing our local coffee sourcing,” Mr Maulini said.

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