19.1.17

Starbucks brings Teavana to India


Seattle-based Starbucks Corporation is looking to grow its global tea business as it introduces its Teavana range in the world's third-highest tea-consuming country. Teavana's official launch in India comes a year after Starbucks' global chief Howard Schultz had announced plans to introduce the company's globally famous tea brand to Indians.

Schultz had said that tea was a multi-billion-dollar category , bigger than coffee, and that the company wanted to create a global footprint for Teavana, including India. Starbucks operates in India through a partnership with the Tata Group and has 88 stores in the country. The company, founded in 1971, is raising its bet on Asia's third-largest economy , relying on Indians' fixation for tea. Turkey was the top tea-drinking country in the world in 2016, followed by China, India and Kenya.

Starbucks acquired Teavana for $620 million in 2012. The tea bars will initially be housed inside all 88 Starbucks stores in the country to begin with. The price of the Teavana range of hot, cold and infused teas is competitive, starting at Rs.130 per unit (or per cup) and extending to about Rs.315 per unit. Coffees at Starbucks start from Rs.125 extending up to around Rs.300 per unit.

Some 18 different tea offerings have been introduced under Teavana, with a special India blend, developed jointly by Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks. This is priced at Rs.295 for a pot, implying that the per unit cost works out to about Rs.148. A pot, for the record, can serve two people.

Tata-Starbucks will evaluate the launch of standalone Teavana tea bars in India in the future.

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