Beer Cafe seeks to ride on popularity of imported beer
The Beer Cafe will add around 19 outlets in the next 12 months, largely in the south
Bengaluru: The Beer Cafe will add around 19 outlets in the next 12 months, largely in the south—the largest beer market in the country—as it sees a surge in popularity of imported and craft beers.
“Consumers have been trading up to better alcohol across markets," said Rahul Singh, founder and chief executive officer at Gurgaon-based BTB Marketing Pvt. Ltd, which runs the chain, selling close to 50 varieties of imported and domestic beers across the National Capital Region, Mumbai, Pune and
Chandigarh, among other cities.
Singh was in Bengaluru to open the chain’s first outlet in the city, and its 25th overall. He said the city will get four more Beer Cafes.
“The success of micro-breweries in the city," he said, proved that consumers are moving away from existing beer brands and enjoying the taste of craft beer.
“There’s clearly a demand emerging from top metros; people want better taste and more variety," Singh added, indicating that the chain was profitable, barring one-two outlets.
For the financial year ending 31 March, the company clocked a turnover of ₹ 39 crore, more than doubling from ₹ 16 crore in the year-ago period. Singh expects to touch ₹ 100 crore in revenue in the current fiscal.
The chain’s growth is largely on the back of greater exposure and a sense of fatigue from existing domestic brands, Singh said.
The additional outlets will almost double the chain’s scale for the first time since its inception in 2012.
The company raised ₹ 30 crore in December last year from Granite Hill Capital and Mayfield Fund. “We will look at a much larger round (of funding), possibly close to ₹ 100 crore by next year," Singh said.
He is confident imported beers will find more takers. For the chain, 70% of its sales come from imported beers such as Amigos, Hoegaarden and Stella, among others.
The imported beer category is growing at about 40% annually, according to market estimates.
The imported beer market in India stands at nearly half a million cases, of which a 40% share is held by Corona and 10-20% by Hoegaarden.
The beer market is pegged at $4 billion, a small fraction of the overall $35-billion liquor market, according to industry estimates.
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