Coffee, workouts and more...

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: Sitting at a table on a busy Friday evening, all you wanted to do was get away from the rigmarole and start a restaurant of your own that played good music and had a an ambience that allowed people to relax, while you mingle with the guests. This is the most common fantasy that most executives have. The other one is about investing in fitness.

“These are quasi philanthropic aspirations,” says Megha Shah, a psychiastrist in the UK. “Many senior executives I know want to eventually get into a business that is their passion and most often it’s about restaurants and fitness centres, like yoga or gym,” she adds.

Incidentally, these businesses have the ability to serve both the needs, the passion to do things differently and also garner the moolah.

While we marvel at the pace at which these phenomena have become a part of our lives and think over “a lot cannot happen over coffee” or “fitter the better,” the fact is that a lot has already happened. What started as a simple Barista outlet eight years ago has led to the beginning of an industry with enormous potential and opportunity. The same is the case with fitness centers. India, having moved on from the “akhadas,” is now Asia’s fastest growing market in terms of fitness centers. While the companies in these industries our not publicly listed, for those who wish to invest in these sectors, a big ticket or do-it-yourself approach is the best option available.

Coffees and conversations

Jayant Mahiskar, owner, Aromas, says, “The entire concept of launching this coffee chain in India was planned out last year. That’s when we began scouting for international partners. A team of experts was sent over to various places and that’s how Aroma’s, an Australian coffee chain was finally set up. Similarly at that time we hired IMRB to do a research report on the coffee shop market in India, so we have a very good idea as to what we were getting into. The report gave us a lot of insights and confirmed the fact that there was unexplored potential in India which could be tapped into. This, combined with a passion for wanting to start a coffee chain, led to this investment taking place and the bringing of Aroma’s to India.