West meets East: SBUX opens experiential store in Chennai

World’s largest cafe chain Starbucks with over 33,000 outlets and over 1,200 in India, has opened its 5th experiential store in the country.

This is the 24th cafe for TATA Starbucks in Chennai, a market known for its traditional filter coffee, followed by instant coffee. The coffee chain operates over 100 cafes each in Mumbai, Bangalore and the National Capital Region.

Sushant Dash, CEO, TATA Starbucks, said, “Building on the success of our experiential stores in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, we are excited to open our first in Chennai.

At Starbucks, every cup tells a story, of our passion for craft, our pursuit of the world’s finest beans, and our commitment to creating meaningful connections.

This store reflects our ambition to create spaces where coffee, culture, and community interact.

More than just a café, it invites customers to immerse themselves in the journey of coffee, celebrating our heritage, showcasing our innovation, and fostering connections that go far beyond the cup.”

To celebrate the spirit of Chennai’s coffee culture, Starbucks has intrpduced India-first flavours into its craft with beverages infused with jaggery, coconut, tamarind, chilli and shikanji.

The Cinnamon Jaggery Latte, Malabar Coconut Cream Latte, Cocoa Birds Eye Chilli Latte, and Tamarind Red Peroo Shikanji Cold Brew each capture a fragment of India’s culinary imagination.

For the first time ever, Starbucks India will also introduce two new exclusive beverages – Banoffee Latte and Banoffee Cold brews, which would be available only at the Abhiramapuram cafe.

Editor’s Note

TATA Starbucks opened 58 new outlets during FY 24-25, as against 95 for the previous financial year.

The company reported revenues of INR 1,277 Cr for FY 24-25 with Net Loss doubling over the previous year to INR 136 Cr.

India remains one of the smallest market for the Coffee giant, with its global revenues for 2024 being USD 36 Bn (INR 315,443 Cr) coming from over 38,000 outlets in 88 countries.