Indian consumers are probably the toughest lot in the world to convince. They are very value conscious and look for value in what ever they pay for. Being well connected with the rest of the world, their expectations are high. Unless you deliver, you cannot win their heart and you cannot make them come back to you again. “This is what I tell my team often,” says Avani Davda, Chief Executive Officer of Tata Starbucks Ltd.

She was in town to launch Starbucks’ first outlet here, which happens to be the international coffee chain’s 50th in the country. Answering a question on whether the brand has tweaked its offerings here to appeal to the Indian palate, she said Starbucks is an iconic brand, which is always evaluated or judged on global experience. “You cannot tweak anything too much, as people here want that iconic taste. My learning in the last several years is that people, particularly the younger generation, do not want to stick to traditional foods. They are open to different experiences.”

However, Tata Starbucks is focused on leveraging the combined strengths, heritage and passion of two leading beverage companies (Starbucks and Tata Global Beverages) to improve the quality and profile of Indian coffee. For example, the Indian Espresso Roast, an offering from the joint venture is the first step towards improving the profile of India-grown Arabic coffees around the world, she said.

Tata Starbucks Ltd, a joint venture, set up its first outlet in Mumbai in October 2012 and has expanded to 50 outlets. The brand experienced a few challenges too, which Davda likes to call “opportunities the company had to crack”. According to her, getting the right milk consistently and good quality water (which is one of the key ingredients) were some of the key issues at the back end, Starbucks had to set right.

But that is not what took the brand 20 months to come to Chennai. Though South is the biggest coffee drinking market, people prefer to drink coffee at home. Whereas, out-of-home coffee consumption is much higher in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, says Davda.

After all, “Starbucks is all about experience, and not just another place to hangout”. The company would aggressively expand its footprint in all markets, as it sees a great potential everywhere. “And, our next target is Hyderabad,” she said.