Coffee chain expands Indian footprint

Coffee chain Au Bon Pain is bullish about India with plans to expand its footprint there.

The Boston-based bakery cafe chain, through its local partner, Goenka Group, has set a capex of Rs 20-30 crore (around $4 million – $5.08 million) to open 21 outlets by March 2015, adding to the existing 29.

New openings are planned for Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore, it says.

“Our immediate focus is to expand in these three cities and reach profitability first. This will be followed by expansion in other cities. We hope to reach profitability in 12 to 18 months,” said Avarna Jain, daughter of Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of Goenka Group.

Jain says most of the new outlets will measure around 1500sqft – larger than the existing cafes, which mostly measures 700 sqft in average.

“Earlier, eating out was occasion-specific. But now, with gruelling schedules, it has become more popular. This has led to the need for larger areas,” she said.

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