Tarun Jain departs Costa Coffee to join Tim Hortons India as CEO

Tim Hortons operates 13 stores in India via local franchisee AG Café | Photo credit: Erik McLean

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Tim Hortons India has a new CEO after Tarun Jain stepped into the role to replace Navin Gurnaney.
 
Jain was previously CEO of Costa Coffee in India, which operates via local franchisee Devyani International, and where he was also previously CEO of the quick service restaurant group’s Airport Division.
 
Aside from his role at Costa Coffee, Jain’s foodservice experience includes stints as Chief Operating Officer at restaurant chain Nando’s and bar group the Beer Cafe alongside senior roles at LiteBite Foods and UAE-based SFC Group.
 
“Happy to announce that I have joined Tim Hortons India as CEO. Extremely excited to be a part of this team and help lead it to the next phase of its growth in the market,” Jain wrote on social media.
 
Tim Hortons opened its first stores in India in August 2022 in partnership with local franchisee AG Café. Later that year, the Canadian coffee chain said it would invest $37m to open 120 stores in the country by 2025 and currently operates 13 outlets in India.
 
AG Café is a joint venture entity owned by fashion and retail conglomerate Apparel Group, and investment manager, Gateway Partners, which is also an investor in Tim Hortons’ Middle East business.
 
Costa Coffee opened its first stores in India in 2005 and now operates more than 100 stores in partnership with local franchisee Devyani International. In November 2022, DIL announced that Costa Coffee achieved 134% year-on-year sales growth in the three months ended 30 September 2022 to reach Rs 220m ($2.7m).
 
Restaurant Brands International (RBI)-owned Tim Hortons opened 300 net new stores around the world in the three months ended , including its first outlet in Pakistan, to reach 5,620 outlets.