Australian Coffee Brand, Di Bella to Invest USD10 Million to Expand into Indian Market

India: Philip Di Bella founded Di Bella in 2002 in Brisbane, Australia with a mission to provide his customers with products, tools, and the knowledge to make a perfect cup of coffee, each time and every time. It is Australia’s fastest growing and most-awarded coffee company. In 2011, Di Bella entered Indian market and opened cafes in Mumbai. Currently, Di Bella coffee chain operates in 11 outlets in Mumbai & Hyderabad. The company is planning to expand its reach and target customers in Delhi and Bangalore as they are investing USD10 million in expansion by next year.

Electel, founded in 2014, holds Di Bella coffee license for India, Middle East, Africa, European Union and the UK. Di Bella is currently working on a 3,000 square feet flagship store located at Linking Road, Mumbai and targets to open around 20 stores in Mumbai by 2017, besides entering Delhi & Bangalore.

Di Bella’s business model is running around a profitable operation. Company has targeted achieving operational level break even from month one of operations.

According to TechSci Research, the company, is poised to fuel the competition in Indian coffee industry. Di Bella is doing rental agreements to open outlets on a revenue-share basis which is close to a 20-25 percent EBIDTA positive mark. Company does not consider itself a competitor to top coffee chain Café Coffee Day as it targets 16 to 20 year-old customers. Di Bella is targeting the youths. It takes around USD0.23 million to set up a Di Bella outlet inclusive of fitment, rent, etc.

According to a recently published report by TechSci Research, “India Coffee Shops / Cafés Market Forecast, Consumer Survey and Opportunities, 2021”, market for Coffee Shops / Cafés in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 11% during 2016 - 2021. In addition to India urban centers like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata, entry of new chains into tier II and tier III cities is anticipated to emerge as a major factor driving growth in coffee shops / cafes market in the country over next five years. India coffee shops / cafes market is highly fragmented, with Café Coffee Day, Costa and Starbucks being few of the leading chained coffee shops operating in the country.