Barista Coffee Grabs Iim Graduates Fancy

Barista Coffee Company Ltd, which has set up over 60 outlets all over the country during the last one and a half years of its existence, will conduct interviews at the Indian Institute of Managements, Ahmedabad and Calcutta, to recruit management graduates.

The company would be brushing shoulders with old horses such as Hindustan Lever, Citibank, American Express, Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank and Coke amongst others.

Out of a class of 200 in IIM Calcutta, as many as 134 students applied to Barista. Similarly, in IIM Ahmedabad, out of 140 students, 104 applied for an interview with the company.

Barista expects to pick up between five to seven candidates from each of these two institutes. Interviews for the new class are slated to be conducted during the last week of February and the first week of March.

"We are the first retail company in India to be chosen by students for the Day 1 interview, which clearly came as a surprise to us. But, internationally retail chains like Walmart have always been popular with management graduates," Sandeep Vyas, executive vice-president of Barista, said.

Vyas, however, did not divulge what salary the company would be offering. But, he said it would be competitive.

He, however, pointed out that new recruits would be offered Esops. "Eight per cent of the company's equity is reserved for employees," he said. That apart, the company would also provide opportunities for fast track growth within the organisation.

The ranking for Day 1 companies was based on a feedback by the students, and not by the faculty. Barista has been on the high growth trail, despite competition from numerous other coffee chains in the country. The coffee chain is now eyeing expansion in neighboring countries.

Locally, the company is planning to sell raw coffee and specialised machines, which will enable customers to brew coffee at home.

Barista has tied up with Tata Coffee, which picked up a small equity in the company for sourcing high quality raw coffee.

It has also tied-up with the Taj group to set up Barista outlets in their hotels. Talks are also on with retailers such as the Swatch group for joint promotions.