Canadian Coffee Chain Tim Hortons Plans To Open 120 Outlets In India In Next 3 Years As The Market Grows

Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee chain that has lately expanded to India, aims to set up 120 outlets here over the next 36 months.

Tim Hortons plans to open about 120 outlets in the country.

Source : Twitter

Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, which has recently ventured into India, plans to open about 120 outlets in the country within a 36-month span. The brand is currently concentrated on growth in North India with intentions to later expand to regions like Mumbai, Pune, Surat, and Ahmedabad, said Navin Gurnaney, the CEO of the company's India division.

In a conversation on the sidelines of the Indian Restaurant Congress 2022, Gurnaney said, "The commitment that I made to the board is in the first 36 months of operation, in the first three years, there'll be 120 stores (in India)."

Presently, the chain runs six outlets around the nation, mostly in the Delhi-NCR and Chandigarh. The company's immediate focus is on opening 20 new stores, followed by another 50 stores over the course of the next 12 months. With the addition of 60 new stores in the third year, the numbers may increase subsequently. Each Tim Hortons café will cost the equivalent of Rs 2 crore to Rs 2.5 crore and will be owned by the company.

The chain entered the market much behind other major brands in August when its first stores opened in India. However, Navin Gurnaney views this as a positive since the late arrival enables the brand to "learn from the experience of others".

Gurnaney, who was formerly with Starbucks India as its CEO, remarked that consumer spending in India is still growing and that now is a great time for any brand to enter the market. “The global aspiration, the number of industries that are coming to India and adding to people’s ability to spend more, the social media that makes them think differently, and any retail brand has prima facie the possibility of success," he said. 

The largest quick-service restaurant chain in Canada, with over 5,000 locations across 15 countries, was established in 1964 by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton. Besides its coffee, this popular cafe chain is known throughout the world for gourmet food and drinks created and personalised based on the location of each store.

Coffee Retail Chain Market In India Is Growing Fast

Market researcher Euromonitor said in a recent report that the Indian market for cafe chains, including tea and coffee, would cross the Rs 4,500-crore mark by 2023.

India has seen a boom in the sector with several new chains coming up. Among the prominent ones are Blue Tokai and Third Wave Coffee.

Tim Hortons is not the only new chain that is coming to India. Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Retail’s subsidiary Reliance Brands Limited also recently announced plans to launch ‘Pret A Manger’, the British sandwich and coffee chain in India. According to reports, the brand plans to launch 10 stores across India by July 2023, and up to 100 outlets by 2028. Pret A Manger would initially focus on airports in India, Reliance Brands MD Darshan Mehta was quoted as saying in a Business Today report.

At present, the report said, Tata Starbucks, with 275 stores across 30 cities, is one of the most dominant players among premium brands in the coffee retail chain market in India. The American coffee chain operates in India as part of a 50:50 JV with Tata Consumer Products.

According to a recent Statista report, Indian coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day has about 495 cafes in 158 cities across India. 

New Delhi-headquartered Barista is also scaling up operations. According to a September 2022 report in Economic Times, the brand currently has 328 stores across India and it plans to take the number up to 500 in the next two years. Quoting Rajat Agrawal, the CEO of Barista, the report said the brand added 95 stores to its network, mostly franchisee-owned outlets, since the pandemic started.