Mumbai, Aug. 3: Barista had an unlikely visitor recently. Howard Shultz — the man behind the leading US coffee chain Starbucks — was visiting a store in Dubai, when he happened to see the orange facade of Barista next door.

Curiosity took over. Shultz stepped in to take a closer look at the Indian coffee store that was competing cheek by jowl with the American one.

He even asked the brewmaster there if this was indeed the Indian coffee store. The brew master blinked twice. He was staring at the man who single-handedly built Starbucks Coffee into a little less than 10,000 stores and propelled it into the Fortune 500 league. The brew master rustled up a Frappuccino for his distinguished guest.

Howard, of course, was too clever. He wouldn’t be caught dead drinking coffee made by his little Indian rival. He thanked the brewmaster and left.

However, most visitors to Barista’s Dubai store would not budge without sipping into their favourite cup of coffee.

Barista’s Dubai outlet clock more footfalls than Starbucks — its giant American counterpart next door, according to Brotin Banerjee, head (marketing and strategy), Barista Coffee Company.

Barista is India’s largest and fastest growing chain of espresso bars.

After acquiring a majority stake in Barista Coffee Company, C. Sivasankaran had said, “I will make Barista the Starbucks of India.”

“I want to expand the number of Barista outlets from around 100 to over 3,000 in the next 36 months,” he said.

Sivasankaran’s Sterling Group holds a 65.45 per cent stake in the company that it bought out from Turner Morrison a little over two months back. Tata Tea continues to hold a 34.1 per cent stake in the company.

Even as Howard Shultz stepped into a Starbucks outlet in Dubai, he could not help noticing the orange facade of a Barista outlet next door

Barista attracts around 13 lakh footfalls every month between the age group of 20 and 35 years. The company plans to add another 70 outlets in 2004-05, Banerjee said.

Fusion meals, including pastas, have been a big hit. The coffee chain earns 7-8 per cent of its revenue from food. It is similar to what global coffee café majors like Starbucks get from vending food.

Barista also plans to sign up franchisees and use the store-in-store format (setting up outlets in shopping malls, airports, campuses) to expand.

Barista is developing an espresso vending machine — one with the real attributes of espresso coffee, where hot water is poured over grounded coffee to get the perfect taste.

Corner bookstores are also on the anvil. The outlet on Park Street in Calcutta will soon house a small corner book store.

All this will help add footfalls, says Banerjee. Barista is also introducing some flavours, such as “frozen coffee” — a coffee ice cube. “It is a new thing in the industry,” Banerjee said.