We know how to make this a profitable business: Tata Starbucks CEO

Tata Starbucks is eying further expansion and growth in India. The coffee chain currently has over 460 stores in the country and has doubled its store count over the past two-three years with launches in different markets as well as in newer formats. At the helm of this expansion and growth is Sushant Dash, Tata Starbucks’ CEO.

Dash, who had spent significant initial years at Tata Tea, later stepped up to set up Starbucks in the country. It was in 2012 when Starbucks entered the Indian market by inking a 50:50 deal with the Tata Group.

During the coffee chain’s initial days in India, Dash played a crucial role in shaping the brand’s journey.

In 2021, Dash was appointed as the CEO of Tata Starbucks after he moved from Tata Consumer Products Ltd into this new role.

There has been no looking back for the brand since then. The coffee chain can be spotted in every nook and corner of all large cities and the brand is also slowly making its entry and presence felt into the smaller towns.

Storyboard18 caught up with Dash over a cup of coffee and he shared more details on the growth of the brand in the country and how is India drinking coffee today.

“The last two and half to three years have been all about expansion. We now know, in some ways, what the Indian consumer wants, we know how to make this a profitable business, so it was then about taking it forward and expanding,” he said.

He believes store format is one of the strategies.

“We have opened up the first green store in the hills, at 8,000 feet high at Ayali Kalan, Punjab,” he said.

Sustainability and doing the right things are the other two pillars of the company’s strategy, he mentioned.