Be A Part Of Brand Saga
To Read This Full Story
Welcome
Be A Part Of Brand Saga
Share your own story with us
And Get Published In Brand Saga
Black Day in the history of the Indian Coffee Business Industry
The son of a father who owns just a coffee garden makes such a huge company that they compete with the top global coffee chain Starbucks. One day, after such a massive success of the company, the man suddenly disappears and then begins a period of controversy, accusations and rumours. You may have guessed the name till now. Yes, this is about V.G Siddhartha and his coffee chain 'Cafe Coffee Day' i.e. CCD.
Siddhartha came from a family with nearly 140 years of experience in coffee production, but before setting foot in the coffee business, he initially tried his hand at stock trading. Leaving behind his desire to join the Indian Army, Siddhartha did a Masters in Economics from Mangalore University and then started working as an investment banker in Mumbai. In 1984, Siddhartha began his own investment and venture capital firm Sivan Security and started investing in coffee gardens in Karnataka. In 1993, Siddharth started a coffee trading company called Amalgamated Bean Company which did pretty well.
Siddhartha met the owner of a German coffee chain and decided to start his own coffee chain. In a country where there was no cafe culture, and people were fans of tea, it was an adventure to take this step. In 1996, Siddhartha started the first outlet of Cafe Coffee Day in a posh area of Bangalore, Brigade Road and gave it the tagline, 'A lot can happen over a cup of coffee'.
The entire marketing strategy of Cafe Coffee Day takes shape around teenagers. From its Facebook account to its TV commercials, Cafe Coffee Day is exceptionally watchful about its target audience. Usually, Cafe Coffee Day promotes itself as a place where endless conversations can take place.
Cafe Coffee Day or another popular name among teenagers and youngsters, i.e., CCD is one of the most popular Indian brands on Facebook. Cafe Coffee Day, which has more than 5 million followers, claims to get 9% of fan traffic every month, which is impressive. Facebook's check-in feature is one of the most used features among users, which is a significant benefit to Cafe Coffee Day. Similarly, Cafe Coffee Day uploads candid photos of people from different outlets across the country on Twitter with captions like 'A lot can happen over coffee'. Cafe Coffee Day also broadcasts its ads etc. on YouTube, which is very popular among the people. After spending about 16 years in the market, Cafe Coffee Day launched its first TV commercial called 'Sit Down'. Apart from this, a TV video was also released in which the song 'Munda Marda Phire' revolves around Cafe Coffee Day. The main actors in the video are frequently seen visiting Cafe Coffee Day, and the video tries to convey the message that every problem can be solved through conversation while sitting comfortably with a cup of coffee.
In a tea-drinking country like India, Cafe Coffee Day is the biggest coffee chain today and has more than 2,000 outlets in around 220 cities. Apart from this, the company also has more than 600 kiosks under the name Value Express. Other than India, the company also operates in Karachi, Vienna, Dubai, Austria, the Czech Republic and Prague. With more than 40,000 employees, Cafe Coffee Day's revenue has exceeded 210 million.
Unfortunately for Cafe Coffee Day fans and those associated with it, the trip did not turn out to be a happy ending. After giving 37 years to his dream venture Cafe Coffee Day, VG Siddhartha went missing on July 29, 2019. According to the letter released by the media, Siddhartha said he was in massive debt and was being pressured by his private equity partner to buy back his shares. Because of this he apologized to all and disappeared. Siddhartha's body, which went missing from a bridge near Mangalore, was found in a river two days later. Today people from all over the country are remembering Siddhartha by remembering their memorable moments spent in Cafe Coffee Day.
Really, a lot can happen over......
And Get Published In Brand Saga