Photo Caption: Smita Jatia, Managing Director of Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. formally launched the store
McDonald’s most successful global brand extension will introduce a New Café experience to Chennaites with its handmade barista coffees
Chennai, 18th November, 2016: McCafé, a unique in-house-coffee style chain is nestled within a McDonald’s. The brand extension is launched with an aim to enhance the customer experience by offering a wide assortment of handmade gourmet coffees at great and affordable value. Since its inception in 2013, the brand has made a mark in the organised Café market in India and has introduced several innovative and alluring beverage platforms under McCafé to pamper its customers across west and south India. The flagship McCafé was inaugurated today at the McDonald’s restaurant located at The Forum Vijaya Mall followed by the second outlet at the Anna Nagar McDonald’s restaurant.
McDonald’s has been the first QSR brand to make full-scale deployment on brand extensions and formats with a focus to provide customer convenience and wholesome meal options during different day parts. McCafé is the third brand extension in India launched by McDonald’s after McDelivery and Desert Kiosk.
McCafé® uses 100% Arabica coffee beans that are specially brewed by professionally trained baristas which are medium roasted to perfection, then freshly ground with every order to maintain flavour and quality to ensure freshness in every cup. The coffee beans and espresso blend at the heart of the coffee are locally sourced from sustainable farms in Chikmagalur, India. McCafé baristas go through hundred hours of rigorous training locally at par with international standard to learn the history of coffee, handling practices, extraction techniques and the art of brewing the perfect coffee. Crafted by professionally trained Baristas, beverages can be made to order by requesting baristas to add extra espresso or flavor shots like Caramel, French Vanilla, Roasted Hazelnut or Irish Cream, as well as real whipped cream for those who like their beverage a little richer. Prices of beverages range from Rs. 90 for a latte or cappuccino and Rs. 110 for a frappé.
Commenting on the launch, Ms. Smita Jatia, Managing Director of Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd., said, “McDonald’s is continuously evolving to diversify its range, develop new services, and create new formats. McCafé was introduced three years back with an aim to provide premium and quality coffee experience at affordable prices to the Indians. With the launch of McCafé®, we have strengthened our beverage strategy and build our restaurants as a one stop destination for all customers to enjoy across all day parts.
Ms. Jatia further added, “South is an integral market for McDonald’s and we believe, it’s the right time for us to unveil the McCafé in Chennai. The city is housed with filter coffee lovers and has a great significance as a coffee hub which showcases tremendous potential for growth. The unique store-in-store format enables a quick roll-out of a McCafé® across key trading areas in metro cities of West & South India to make it easily accessible to our consumers. Within a span of 3 years, we have expanded our McCafé® network across 95 restaurants in 12 cities – Mumbai, Nasik, Aurangabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Baroda, Vapi, Indore, Bengaluru and Chennai. Our business goal is to double the McCafé footprint in the next 12-18 months, a clear testament to the fact that our coffees, frappés, smoothies and muffins have been very well accepted by customers.
The expansion of the McCafé® brand extension and its product offering is part of the company’s goal to elevate its coffee portfolio and to become India’s favourite destination for good food and quality beverages. We are confident to continue our McCafé success and delight customers in Chennai too with our freshly brewed aromatic coffees handmade by our Baristas.”
India’s first McCafé was launched at Mumbai – SOBO Central in October 2013. The opening of McCafé will offer the locals a premium beverage destination of their choice, with a warm, relaxing décor which is perfect for professionals on-the-go, young people wanting to catch up with friends and even for mothers and children at great value. We want to create a long term relationship with our customers, suppliers and employees in the state of Tamil Nadu and facilitate them with our new services and offerings.
McCafé offers a premium range of handmade specialty coffees such as Mocha, Cappuccino, Espresso, Latte, Iced latte, Iced mocha, Hot chocolate and Iced frappes. In addition to this, other beverage platforms have been introduced such as, Smoothies with real Mango & Mixed Berries fruit; Iced splash beverages in Raw Mango, Musk Melon & Kokum flavours and recently launched Share Shakes available in Oats N Raisins Cookie Crunch, Strawberry Oreo Whirl and Espresso N Brownie.
The brand stands out for the training invested in grooming their Baristas which has been rewarded with winning Gold and Silver awards at the India National Barista Championship in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Women Baristas at McCafé have secured two positions in the top 10 India Women Barista Championship in India in 2015. Additionally, McCafé Baristas have won the ‘Best Signature Beverage’ award at the India National Barista Championship consecutively in 2013 and 2014.
