'Bean' there, done that: The Lavazza India story

When the café culture – a mainstay of Europe, the Middle East, South America – came to India, the concept was subsumed by restaurants. "Historically, cafes were a place you went to for coffee, but that’s not the case anymore,” says Jai Ganesh Ramnath, Managing Director, Lavazza India. 

His company would know.

Lavazza was established in Turin, Italy, in 1895, by the family of the same name who have seen the chronology and consumption of coffee and cafes over the last 120-plus years.

And, even before the company formally established its presence in India by tying up with Barista and Fresh & Honest Coffee in 2007, they were working with local farmers here to source their main product. 

“After Lavazza sold its stake in Barista in India, it has gone back to being a supplier of quality coffee beans, as well as machines and accoutrements. When we supply products, we also offer free tutorials on how to make a good cup of coffee,” says Ramnath. While Karnataka produces close to 70% of the country’s coffee crop and most households in South India go to local ‘coffee shops’ to have their beans roasted and ground, the East and North East are also seeing rising demand and sales.

“We have also seen a threefold increase in online sales, with people ordering coffee at home,” says Ramnath, adding that the demand for quality beans (such as Lavazza’s bouquet) now hovers around 15 per cent for hotels/restaurants and 85 per cent for private home consumption, thanks to online delivery. Astonishingly, India isn’t a huge market for coffee.

But, Scandinavian countries consume 12 kgs of coffee per capita; that averages out to every person consuming a kilo of coffee every month. Indians, per capita (person), consume 720 gms of coffee a year. 

“As people, especially millennials, are travelling and experiencing quality products, there’s a growing demand for the same standard of a coffee when they come back home, and it is companies like ours and a few others that meet that demand for a good cup of coffee,” concludes Ramnath.