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Mumbai, March 23: Barista Coffee Company today joined hands with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to open outlets at the oil major?s petrol pumps on highways.

Barista, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chennai-based Sterling Infotech group, will invest over Rs 20 crore for the purpose.

The alliance will involve investments of Rs 16-20 lakh per outlet from both the companies. At full stream of around 200 outlets, Barista is looking at earnings of 10-15 per cent of its overall revenue. Under the agreement, the speciality coffee leader will also look at IOC sites in metros and mini metros for opening its outlets.

The deal will take shape on the Delhi-Agra and Delhi-Chandigarh highways initially. While this will be fully operational by May, the company is looking at adding 20 outlets in the next three months.

It plans to cover strategic locations in the Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Mathura, Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Agra highways. Barista said the other target highways will be Mumbai-Pune, Chennai-Pondicherry and Bangalore-Mysore.

According to the company, the highway format, which will have a take-away option, would primarily cater to a highway traveller looking for a refreshing break during his journey. The highway outlets would ideally be spread over 500 sq feet of area with both indoor and outdoor seating arrangements. The new retail format will be a sub-brand of Barista Coffee Company. Plans are also afoot to offer meals along with light snacks.

The alliance is expected to be a win-win situation since Barista can now bank on the network of IOC pumps, whereas the latter can add to its non-petroleum revenues.

On the tie-up, Brotin Banerjee, chief operating officer of Barista Coffee Company, said, ?Barista would like to expand the coffee market to meet the needs of the highway traveller. A large number of Barista consumers would benefit from this initiative as they would be able to slip their coffee while on the move.?