Homegrown café chain Third Wave Coffee is hoping to achieve operational breakeven in FY27 on the back of improved performance at the store level, the company’s chief executive said.
The company, which officially kicks off operations in Calcutta with three cafes, aims to close the year with a national count of 320 cafes, raising it from 220 now.
As part of the rollout, Calcutta itself will have close to 8-10 cafes during the fiscal, Rajat Luthra, CEO of Third Wave Coffee, said.
“We are very conscious of the unit economics when it comes to operations. About 90 per cent of our cafés are operating at positive EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation),” Luthra added.
The company, the CEO said, is well funded at the moment to take care of the expansion through this fiscal year.
Riding on the wave of surging out-of-home coffee consumption, home-grown café chains such as Blue Tokai and Third Wave Coffee are competing with international giants such as Starbucks for the wallet share of the affluent urban middle class in India.
They are also willing to step outside the metro cities to cash in on the changing consumer patterns. Third Wave plans to open cafes in places like Vizag and Surat, among others.
Coffee-first café chains are also banking on food to attract all-day footfall, and it is becoming an integral part of the model. Third Wave has introduced a new range of desserts under the Third Rush brand.