Son of a coffee plantation owner, V.G. Siddhartha created the Indian rival of Starbucks. Coming from a family that has a 140-year history of growing coffee, Siddhartha initially dabbled in stock trading before actually setting his foot in the coffee business.
He initially wanted to join the Indian Army but then envisaged interest in working as an investment banker in Mumbai after completing his Master’s degree in Economics from Mangalore University. In 1984, he launched his own investment and venture capital firm Sivan Securities in Bangalore, and began investing the profits from his start-up to buy coffee plantations in Karnataka’s Chikmagalur district.
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Inspired by a chat with the owners of Tchibo, a German coffee chain, Siddhartha decided to open his own chain of cafes in a country that had no formative cultural grounding in cappuccinos. He opened Cafe Coffee Day’s first outlet on Bangalore’s upscale Brigade Road in 1994 with a tag line ‘A lot can happen over a cup of coffee’
It’s now the largest chain of coffee shops in India, a nation of tea drinkers, with 1,750 cafes in more than 200 cities, including outlets in Prague, Vienna and Kuala Lumpur.
1993 | Coffee Day Global Ltd incorporated, to start café business |
1995 | Coffee Day retail stores launched |
1996 | Café Coffee Day's first outlet in Bangalore opens |
2000 | Launch of Way2Wealth, offering financial advisory services after acquiring Sivan Securities; Coffee Day invests ₹44 crore for a 6.6% stake in Mindtree |
2006 | Hospitality firm The Serail launched. Venture runs 3 resorts in Karnataka |
2010 | PE firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Standard Chartered and NLS invest in Coffee Day Enterprises |
2011 | Coffee Day picks up another 7.62% in Mindtree |
2012 | Sequoia exits Siddhartha's Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Ltd and takes additional 6.84% stake in Mindtree |
2015 | CDEPL goes public with listing at $1 billion valuation |
2019 | Jan: Tax Department attaches Mindtree shares owned by Siddhartha and Coffee Day Enterprises |
| March: L&T signs deal with Siddhartha to buy 20.4% stake in Mindtree for about ₹3,300 crore | |
| June: Soft drinks major Coca-Cola begins talks to acquire stake in the coffee chain |
(With inputs from PTI)
Also read: A look at Coffee Day Enterprises' shareholding pattern
