Cafe Coffee Day to sell coffee machines

To capitalise on the growing 'coffee culture' in the country, Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) will soon start selling espresso machines.

The move comes on the heels of the company planning to enter the e-commerce space.

"We understand that the coffee culture is growing and we want to dispel the notion that making an espresso is difficult. This is the first machine that we are selling. We can leverage the back-end for roast-grinding coffee," Cafe Coffee Day President S Vejay Anand told reporters.

"We are launching a capsule machine in Bangalore within the next week and then Mumbai soon after. The coffee is packaged in a tub that we call capsule. You put it in the machine and get an espresso within a few seconds," he added.

The company plans to take the product to seven other cities within the next six months. It is also scouting for service partners in other cities.

"This is a new category for us and we need to service it as well. It is not like food and beverage where you make a sale and your work ends there. We have identified a person for after-sales services and we will work with multiple partners for other cities," Anand said.

The product will have two variants - semi-automatic and automatic - and will be priced at Rs 4,500 and Rs 5,500.

CCD's competitor, Italian firm Lavazza, sells its own espresso machines and Anand claims his product is at least 30 per cent cheaper.

A part of the Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company, CCD operates 1,300 outlets in the country.