Beer Cafe brews 100 outlet expansion

The Beer Cafe, a Delhi-based firm, plans to make beer chains as common as now coffee chains are in India.

Rahul Singh (pictured), chief executive officer, The Beer Cafe, plans to open one outlets every five days.

“We plan to be the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) of the beer market. CCD revolutionised the coffee chain market in India and now they are at a stage that at least in terms of stores and presence, their presence is unmatched. We want to do something similar in beer.”

Singh said the plan is to take the total number of outlets from six to 100 and touch a turnover of Rs 300 crore by 2015.

The company has raised $5 million (Rs 25 crore) from Mayfield, a California-based venture capitalist, and may go for another round of funding next year.

“We will probably need to raise more funds for expansion. And that is probably going to happen in 2014.”

He said the regulatory hurdles in opening an alcohol beverage chain is likely to keep this space from getting crowded too soon.

“We need up to 12 licences for serving one glass of beer and that is a lot. Since there are so many regulatory challenges it is possible that not many people else will get into this space. And that should help us.” There is just one more beer chain in India —The Pint Room.

Most beer firms in India have tie-ups with bars and as a result only few brands are available in one bar.

The Beer Cafe sells all 54 brands available in India, which would be prove to be a huge advantage, said Singh.