The Hindu Business Line : Fresh & Honest to market coffee brand Alive in sachets

FRESH & Honest Café, which launched Alive, its brand of filter coffee, in the retail market recently, plans to sell it in sachets by the end of the month to reach smaller towns and villages.

The company also plans to retail Illy, a brand of Italian coffee, which it now markets through vending machines in five-star hotels and Barista units in the metros. It is also expanding distribution of its flavoured soya milk. In the next two years, the company will increase its presence in the food and beverage segment with forays into various other categories.

Speaking to Business Line here, Mr R. Shivashankar, CEO, Fresh & Honest Café, said the sachets would be competitively priced. The introductory price for a 20 gm sachet is likely to be Rs 3. Alive is now available in 50 gm (Rs 9), 100 gm (Rs 17.50), 200 gm (Rs 35) and 500 gm (Rs 86) packs which are all priced higher than other brands because it contains 70 per cent Arabica coffee (a premium variety) and only 30 per cent chicory, he explained.

According to Mr V.V. Balaraman, Deputy General Manager (Marketing), Alive is now available in 11,000 outlets in Tamil Nadu since its launch in March.

The brand's success in TN has had the company revising its target from 14,000 outlets to 20,000 by the end of July, Mr Shivashankar said. It was launched in Karnataka last month and expects to cover 11,400 outlets by end-June. Alive would be launched in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala next month and then move to cities such as Mumbai and Pune.

Fresh & Honest has installed 2,300 vending machines in various corporates and five-star hotels across the country. The company plans to increase this number to 4,000 in the near future.

Mr Shivashankar said research is under way to arrive at the product form (dark/medium/light roast and coarse/medium/fine grinding) of Illy best suited for the Indian retail market. Fresh & Honest plans the retail launch by July. Illy is 100 per cent multi-origin Arabica coffee, he said, explaining that coffee beans from various countries are sourced and blended in Italy to make this brand.

Preferred espresso

According to him, Illy is the preferred espresso brand worldwide with 5 million cups of Illy espresso consumed every day. Soya products also figure prominently in the company's radar. "As it's a product that can address concerns of obesity, illness and malnutrition, it has great potential," says Mr Shivashankar. Right now, the company is expanding presence in the South and will focus on distribution and sampling of its flavoured soya milk, Soyfresh, which is available in six flavours, he said. It also makes tofu under the Soyfresh brand.

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