The only common thing, one could say, between Coca Cola and Coffee is caffeine, apart from the two having their own mark-up of calories. Nothing more, nothing less. And those who are governed by lame jokes would say, that they are both blossoming businesses also at the end of the day, thus finding another commonality.
But wait till you hear this.
Could you ever have imagined that a booing cola brand would come to the rescue of a somewhat embattled coffee chain? Yes, it is true and that too, in the heart of a booming economy, no less expansive than India.
In India, it appears that Coca Cola holds the key to rescue the constricted business of Cafe Coffee Day, a successful retail coffee chain that recently saw the sad demise of a man widely hailed as the ‘coffee king of India.’
But where it stands at present, it turns out that Cafe Coffee Day could well find Coca Cola, among the world’s biggest-selling beverages across the global markets at the helm of its affairs. And this could, therefore, mean that Coca Cola could rescue India’s most popular and widely successful coffee chain.
So how can this happen? Here’s what you ought to know. Apparently, as of the last month, Coca Cola held talks with the Indian coffee chain to acquire a substantial stake in the company. This could well signal a bailout of the noted coffee chain from its current string of woes.
Therefore, if the talks go in accordance to plans, then one could see an important operational partnership between the two brands, a working equation whose seeds were sown by the late VG Siddhartha.
Elaborating more on the believed future alliance, here is what Business Insider had to note:
“We are already talking with international players like Coke & ITC for partnership in the business. CCD has got a good procurement network to get 25,000-30,000 tons of coffee in local market. New roasting facility which has just started can roast around 15,000 tons of coffee and this can act as a great backend business in procuring & roasting with a lot of international brands instead of exporting green coffee,” VG Siddhartha had said in his last letter addressed to the employees and management of CCD.
But so far, it is said, that the authenticity of the letter hasn’t been confirmed and the CDEL has shared the same with the stock exchanges and authorities for it to be verified.
That told, what can be confirmed is that Coca Cola, the mega carbonated brand from the United States has indeed been eyeing the fast-growing cafe business space in India as the core carbonated business space has been facing some troubles in the past, with experts believing that the domain is losing the fizz.