Cafe Coffee Day to invest Rs 150 cr

Cafe Coffee Day, the 13-year old retail coffee restaurant chain, is planning to invest around Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) this financial year for a total of 1,000 outlets, up from close to 850 outlets now.

The company is also going in for a major facelift and as part of this ongoing effort, CCD has unveiled a new logo to represent the chain. The new change also entails CCD's all new 'smart' menu card that are designed to facilitate an interactive and enhanced customer service.

CCD director Alok Gupta said, "We have been talking to a lot of people about what they would love to see in a café and the new Cafe Coffee Day look and feel is expected to give customers a more enjoyable experience. The new menu is tailor-made keeping local taste-buds and preferences in mind."

The company, which increased prices of food items by three per cent last financial year, expects food and commodities prices to come down in the next few quarters.

"We increased prices of food items last fiscal and we do not contemplate any increase right now. Infact we are looking forward to a price correction soon," Gupta said.

CCD is also expecting better rentals as it looks to expand. "Currently, 15 per cent of our revenues go towards paying rentals. A year ago, it was around 18 per cent," Gupta said.

To support the expansion, CCD is also looking to add 100-200 employees every month. Currently, it has around 4-5,000 employees