Qwiky Coffee expects Rs 90-cr sales by 2003, to open 55 pubs

New Delhi, May 15: COFFEE outlet pioneers in India, Qwiky Corporation, is expecting a turnover of Rs 90 crore by opening 55 coffee pubs, 35 “store in stores” and 100 kiosks all over the country by 2003 and will soon go in for equity placements.

“The company has planned a range of initiatives like vending machines, serving non-coffee items, associating with consumer brands to run stores and will be going in for equity placements soon,” Qwiky Corporation vice president Edwin Paul said.

The target was to have 55 coffee pubs by 2003 and to fund expansion plans it will make equity placements for $2 million and also go in for franchising, he said, adding that to find the right equity partner the company had appointed Ernst and Young as the consultant. Mr Paul said the promoter’s capital in the company till now had been $2 milion and the current turnover of the corporation was Rs 6 crore.

He said the company which had already opened eight outlets including one in Delhi and seven in Chennai and Hyderabad would be opening another 12-14 pubs in Bangalore, Pondicherry, Mumbai and Delhi by the year end.

With the growth plan already charted out, he expected the company to have a turnover of Rs 90 crore by 2003 and break even in three years time, though depending on the real estate costs and other investments, it varied from outlet to outlet.

He said Qwiky had tied up with Bharat Petroleum Corporation to open 35 coffee kiosks or vending machines in Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai adding that 10 such kiosks had already been opened in Chennai.

Mr Paul said the target was to have 100 kiosks all over the country within the next two years.

Explaining the “store in store” concept, he said Qwiky was setting up coffee pubs in retail shops, department stores, book stores, multiplexes, theme parks, bowling alleys and entertainment centres.

While three had already been set up in Chennai and Hyderabad, another 35 were planned in the next two years time, he said.

The company had tied up with 7-8 brands like MTV, East-West Books and Hallmark and housed a whole range of merchandise like cards, gifts and toys in the pubs.

The pubs offered 101 different varieties of coffee drinks, many of which like Firazzo Biscayo were patented by Qwiky and there was a tie-up with Seattle based Da Vinci Gourmet to get these syrups, he added. Mr Paul said blended tea like Teambra Biscayo which was garnished with crumbled cookies and Teambra Gelato were also patented. (PTI)