The Beer Cafe plans overseas expansion

After successfully opening over 20 beer cafes in India, The Beer Cafe plans an overseas expansion by opening three outlets in Singapore in the next one month. With this, BTB Marketing, which owns The Beer Cafe is eying South East Asian Markets like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, West Malaysia and Vietnam.

Speaking about the overseas expansion plan, Rahul Singh, founder and CEO, BTB Marketing, which owns The Beer Cafe said, "After successfully expanding our base in India, now we are opening three cafes in Singapore. South East Asian countries are the largest consumers of beer after China. Vietnam has highest consumption of beer in this market. In India, by end of FY15, we will be opening 14 more cafes.  We have positioned it as a relaxed place, not a happening place. We are trying to do for the popular beverage what Starbucks did for coffee. In 15 months, the business has gone from four outlets to 20. Every one of them will break even within the first quarter."

It has opened three cafes in Pune and plans three more in the next three months.

All the store are company owned and no plans to expand its base on franchise basis.  Currently it has 20 cafes in India. Typically the cafe size ranges from 1500 square feet to 3000 square feet area. The total investment per cafe if of Rs 60 to 80 lakh depending upon the location.  The Beer Cafe has more than 40 brands of 17 countries mostly from the European countries.  The beer chain will focus on opening its new shops at Delhi, NCR, Punjab, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai. At present, The Beer Cafe has 25 outlets in Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, among other places.

According to Singh, the addressable market for The Beer Cafe is Rs  1,300 crore but is growing fast.

The company has raised two rounds of funding, including $4.5 million (Rs  25 crore) from Mayfield, in May 2013. The process of raising Series-B funding values the firm 3.5 times higher than the last fund raise. In the 16 months since the last funding, it has expanded from five outlets to 20.

Singh added, "It's a cash-positive business, the money rotates well. But beer consumption in bars and restaurants is just 10 per cent. The rest happens in cars or on the street, near liquor stores. We have expanded from five outlets to 20. Six more are ready and waiting for bar licenses, while it plans to open 14 more this year.

Globally, there are many beer chains like Belgian Beer Cafe and World of Beer. In the UK, the large bar chains are - J D Wetherspoon (over 920 outlets), Punch Taverns (4,000 outlets) and Galaxy Pub Estate (1,380 outlets).