Starbucks: A passage to India? Joint venture with Tata may lead to first stores
Starbucks is close to opening its first stores in India in a joint venture with the country's largest conglomerate, according to news reports. The leading American specialty coffee
chain is building on a venture with Tata Coffee, a division of the giant Tata conglomerate, that started with a sourcing agreement in January. That agreement, for buying and roasting beans, also allowed Starbucks to open outlets in Tata-owned stores and hotels. The agreement grew to a full-fledged
joint venture in March, with Starbucks holding a 26 percent stake, which is projected to grow to 51 percent. While tea is the hot beverage of choice in India, coffee is coming on strong, with consumption up 80 percent from 2000 to 2010. Coffee reportedly is especially popular among India's youth and its growing middle class, who tend more toward Western tastes.
Hugh Jackman to sell coffee for charity Visit to Ethiopian coffee farmer was inspiration Film and Broadway star Hugh Jackman is about to add another line to his resume: coffee-based philanthropist. Jackman, perhaps best known as
Wolverine in the "X-Men" movies, announced on Oct. 12, his 43rd birthday, that he is forming a company to raise money for charity through sales of specialty coffee, as well as chocolates and other items. The company, Laughing Man, was scheduled to open its first coffeehouse in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood in late October. Jackman was quoted in Digital Spy as
saying he was inspired to form Laughing Man during a 2009 visit to Ethiopia, when he met a farmer named Dukale: "I was so inspired by what I learned working with him and his community. I made Dukale a promise to do my part to help." Charities to benefit include Harlem Village Academies.
Vietnam welshes on coffee contracts Importers may establish own facilities there Coffee supplies in Vietnam have become so unreliable that international importers are looking into establishing their own operations there, according to a Reuters report. Vietnam became the leading exporter
of Robusta coffee in 1998, and is now the second-biggest exporter of coffee of all types. A representative of Sucafina, a Swiss-based coffee importer that does extensive business in Vietnam, said Vietnamese exporters delayed or canceled shipments of more than 60,000 metric tons of coffee in June and July. A managing director of the coffee
unit of financial giant Louis Dreyfus told Reuters that global coffee companies will be more likely to establish operations in Vietnam as a result: "Today, the only way in which multinational companies can guarantee that they have secure supply for their roaster clients is by sourcing themselves." SCR
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