The Indian specialty coffee roaster and café chain says it will open 200 more stores across India over the next three years and is considering entering the coffee vending machine segment
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The specialty coffee roaster and café chain currently operates 54 stores across India | Photo credit: Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters
Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters has raised $30m in its Series B funding round which it will use to increase its Indian store footprint and enhance its B2B presence.
The Indian specialty coffee roaster and café chain currently operates 54 stores across India. The company said the new funding, led by Mumbai-based A91 Partners, will enable it to open 200 new stores over the next three years.
Founded in 2013, Blue Tokai also operates online and via B2B channels, distributing its packaged retail coffee to hotels, restaurants and cafés across India.
The company said it will also invest further in its B2B division and plans to introduce vending machine-based offerings in the coming years.
“We are excited to have A91 Partners as our newest investors and join us on this journey of making Indian specialty coffee accessible to coffee lovers globally. We are focused on growing our presence across all our channels, including our cafés as well as our B2C and B2B offerings. In the coming three years, we plan to showcase the work done by nearly 100 new specialty coffee producers, thus enabling a far more diverse product offering at Blue Tokai,” said Matt Chitharanjan, Co-Founder and CEO, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters.
Blue Tokai said the funding is the largest investment round in the Indian specialty coffee industry to date, which highlights the increasing opportunities for premium coffee operators in the country.
US coffee chains Starbucks and Dunkin’ both gained ground in the Indian market last year, while Canada’s Tim Hortons and the UK’s Pret A Manger debuted in the country amid plans to scale further throughout 2023.
In January 2023, Indian franchise group Devyani International Limited opened its 100th Costa Coffee store in the country while domestic food and beverage platform Culinary Brands announced it had attained exclusive rights to license the Lavazza brand in India.
The deal will also see the Everstone Group subsidiary take a ‘significant majority stake’ in Lavazza’s Fresh & Honest coffee brand, which can produce 9,000 tons of coffee per year from its Sri City manufacturing facility.