“I promise, you will keep coming back for more,” declares Sundar Subramaniam with a confident smile. The executive director of Mother Mirra Group of Companies offers me a fragrant brew, made with coffee powder from Mirra’s Idhu Namma Veetu Kaapi brand. The group recently launched three variants of filter coffee. It’s limited to retail in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for now, but Sundar is bursting with plans.
“We are marketing Mirra’s Coffee with the line ‘I want you to buy my coffee once’... we plan to give away free brass coffee davara sets with every packet soon. And, there will soon be wet sampling at malls and stores.”
Mother Mirra’s Coffee has a 100-year-old legacy. It comes from the house of the first Asian planter, PPR Subramaniam (Sundar’s great-grandfather) and his Virakesari Plantations. PPR was an entrepreneur and journalist from Avanipatti village, in the Sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu. He also started Virakesari , the first Tamil newspaper in Sri Lanka in the 1930s, to give a voice to the rights of plantation workers.
“Back home, our community was often associated with the money-lending business. My great-grandfather set a new path. He moved to Sri Lanka at a time when plantations were still owned only by the British and the Scottish,” Sundar says with pride.
Later, PPR moved to Malaysia, where he bought more plantations. “My grandfather Sundarakesari continued the tradition and owned plantations in Coorg. My father S Subramanian followed suit,” says Sundar, now settled in Coimbatore.
Today, their plantation AA — or Premium Arabica — variety of beans is exported to countries within Asia and beyond. They also have a line-up of Arabica and Robusta with varying ratios of chicory content in them.
“Our wholesale market is thriving. We also sell online on Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, and Big Basket, something I introduced after I took over in the last six months. My focus is on digital marketing. We are getting a good response from our active social media pages too.” The group has also branched into budget homes and service apartments.
“I did my masters in business marketing at Cornell University in New Zealand. I wanted to work abroad, but my father had other plans. He met me at Singapore and handed me my return ticket to Coimbatore,” laughs Sundar.
What followed was the launch of the retail brand. They added more German machineries to the factory at Coorg and introduced three new products — pure coffee (100% premium Arabica), premium filter coffee (with 15% chicory) and Gold (with 47% chicory). A network of 350 dealers ensures that the filter coffee reaches stores in Coimbatore, Madurai, Chennai and Puducherry. “In a couple of months, we want to start exporting to Singapore and New Zealand.” They also plan to enter the Sri Lankan market, from where it all began. A particular street in Colombo, from where Virakesari was born, still goes by the name Chettiar Street, to honour his great-grandfather.
Among new products, a green coffee is in the offing. Sundar also plans coffee counters at airports: where one can sow coffee, roast, grind and brew a perfect davara .
