Date:12/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/04/12/stories/2006041203040800.htm

Back Fresh & Honest eyes 10% of filter coffee market

Our Bureau

Plans `aggressive' marketing campaign

Bangalore, April 11

Fresh & Honest Café Ltd (FHCL) is eyeing a 10 per cent share in the country's organised packaged filter coffee market this year.

Fresh & Honest, a member of the C. Sivasankaran-promoted Sterling Infotech Group of Companies, after being in the freshly brewed coffee vending business for nine years, diversified into the retail coffee segment recently with the launch of its roast and ground coffee brand `Alive'.

FHCL launched Alive in Karnataka on Monday and expects to hit the Kerala and Andhra Pradesh markets apart from major metros by June this year, said its CEO, Mr R. Shivashankar. Alive was launched in Tamil Nadu in February this year and the response "has been more than our expectations", he said.

The Southern States led by Tamil Nadu account for 90 per cent of the coffee consumed in the country.

Mr Shivashankar said the size of the mixed filter coffee market was estimated at 20,600 tonnes per annum. About half of this market was in the organised sector, dominated by players such as Hindustan Lever Ltd, Narasu's and Tata Coffee.

"We are targeting a 10 per cent market share (that is about 1,000 tonnes) in the organised packaged filter coffee segment in our first year of operations," Mr Shivashankar said. The company expects to get aggressive with its marketing campaign and has already spent about Rs 2 crore in the first two months to promote `Alive', a coffee blend with 30 per cent chicory, he said.

Priced at a premium of 10 per cent over the leading brands, FHCL expects `Alive' to hit the shelves of some 42,000 retailers throughout the country by this year-end, Mr Shivashankar said.

Further, FCHL proposes to come out with a pure filter coffee brand, he said. However, Mr Shivashankar said the company has no immediate plans to enter the instant coffee segment.

FCHL has a tie-up with Espresso vendor Illycafe to distribute the latter's products in India. "We propose to set up a separate team to promote Illy products," he added. About six million cups of freshly brewed coffee from FCHL's vending machines are consumed every month across the country.