Brews Almighty

From John Abraham to your next-door neighbor, the Seths have concocted the perfect brew to keep Mumbai’s high flyers streaming into their café.

By Sumana Guha Ray

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The Seths don’t come from a business background. Yet, when they got married, they set up their own design company. This, in turn, helped finance Tamarind Cafés, the parent company of the café chain.

What sets Colombian Café apart from other Indian coffee chains is its 21 international blends on offer, breakfast menus, salads and confectionaries from around the globe—a fare that’s usually be found in star hotels. The two cafés, both launched late in 2008, are located in the upmarket Bandra and Powai areas of Mumbai. Till date, the Seths have invested Rs.3.5 crore.

“We realized through experience that the best way of getting work done and reaping profits is to inculcate the spirit of ownership in your employees. So, we’ve given the full onus of the outlets to our café managers. We don’t want a loss-making venture, or even a loss-making outlet. We don’t believe that if one outlet makes losses, the others will pull it through,” Aditya reveals the secret behind their success.

Before setting up the business, the couple had been on a coffee trail to Colombia, where they claim the world’s best coffee comes from. Next, they made sure that the coffee beans came straight from the U.S., where beans from around the world are gathered and exported. They also fly down experts from the U.S. every three months to conduct a quality check of the products and train their staff.

The Seths had identified their customers well before setting up the business: mature and experimental people. “You’ll rarely find teenybopper couples here. [We attract] confident, lively achievers. It also helps that urban Indians are opening up to experimenting with newer tastes,” says Jumana. “Our chefs are ex-Taj experts, and everything is cut and made once orders are placed. Our assurance of quality also ensures considerable celebrity footfalls.”

Adding steam—and charm—to the enterprise is the way in which the duo blends their respective skills. “While Jumana is brilliant at execution, I am good with strategies,” explains Aditya. “Although we did the basic market research, we focused more on getting the plan off the ground as soon as possible. People tend to underestimate their potential and get caught up in wasteful procedures. In our case, it helped to have each other to make us realize our potential.”

October-December of 2008 itself saw a 125 percent increase in business at the Bandra café and 150 percent increase in Powai. The creative marketing strategy of introducing the ‘Bingo card’ helped, too. Patrons with this card get any international brew for free after six cups of coffee. Customers, thus, become familiar with foreign tastes, which pays off in the long term.

Although heavy on the wallet, the cafés enjoy 250 to 300 footfalls a day. The Seths expect to have 78 outlets across India by 2013 and break even on their current investments by 2011.

Aditya Seth, 36, and his wife of four years, Jumana, 31, love coffee. But what happens when your passion for something turns into an obsession? Despite the psychopaths popularized by our films, it could actually lead to a profitable business venture! For the Seths, it gave birth to De Colombian Café, a prime destination for international brews.
The Seths don’t come from a
business background. Yet, when they got married, they set up their own design company. This,
in turn, helped finance Tamarind Cafés, the parent company of
the café chain.
What sets Colombian Café apart from other Indian coffee chains is its 21 international blends on offer, breakfast menus,
salads and confectionaries from around the globe—a fare that’s usually be found in star hotels. The two cafés, both launched late in 2008, are located in the upmarket Bandra and Powai areas
of Mumbai. Till date, the Seths have invested Rs.3.5 crore.
“We realized through experience that the best way of getting work done and reaping profits is to inculcate the spirit of ownership in your employees. So, we’ve given the full onus of the outlets to our café managers. We don’t want a loss-making venture, or even a loss-making outlet. We don’t believe that if one outlet makes losses, the others will pull it through,” Aditya reveals the secret behind their success.
Before setting up the business, the couple had been on a coffee trail to Colombia, where they claim the world’s best coffee comes from. Next, they made sure that the coffee beans came straight from the U.S., where beans from around the world are gathered
and exported. They also fly down experts from the U.S. every three months to conduct a quality check
of the products and train their staff.
The Seths had identified their customers well before setting up the business: mature and experimental people. “You’ll rarely find teenybopper couples here. [We attract] confident, lively achievers. It also helps that urban Indians are opening up to experimenting with newer tastes,” says Jumana. “Our chefs are ex-Taj experts, and everything is cut and made once orders are placed. Our assurance of quality also ensures considerable celebrity footfalls.”
Adding steam—and charm—to the enterprise is the way in which the duo blends their respective skills. “While Jumana is brilliant at execution, I am good with strategies,” explains Aditya. “Although we did the basic market research, we focused more on getting the plan off the ground as soon as possible. People tend to underestimate their potential and get caught up in wasteful procedures. In our case, it helped to have each other to make us realize our potential.”
October-December of 2008 itself saw a 125 percent increase in business at the Bandra café and 150 percent increase in Powai. The creative marketing strategy of introducing the ‘Bingo card’ helped, too. Patrons with this card get any international brew for free after six cups of coffee. Customers, thus, become familiar with foreign tastes, which pays off in the long term.
Although heavy on the wallet, the cafés enjoy 250 to 300 footfalls a day. The Seths expect to have 78 outlets across India by 2013 and break even on their current investments by 2011.

Tags:
Aditya Seth, cafe, De Colombian Café, Jumana Seth

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