Fresh & Honest's 'Alive' filter coffee to go national

Fresh and Honest Cafe Limited (FHCL), the freshly-brewed coffee vendor which entered the filter coffee powder business in February, now plans to take its brand national by June.

Branded 'Alive', the filter coffee powder, is made from Indian coffee beans. It has a blend of 70 per cent coffee and 30 per cent chicory. It is priced 10 per cent higher than the market leader.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, R Shivashankar, CEO, Fresh and Honest Cafe Limited, said the success of the company's coffee vending division has helped it to foray into the packaged filter coffee segment.

"After the successful launch in Tamil Nadu, where we have begun to get repeat orders, which was more than our expectation, Alive is now being launched in Karnataka."

The company will move to other southern states "" Andhra Pradesh and Kerala "" by May. After completing the southern states which accounts for over 90 per cent of India's packaged coffee market, the company plans to take Alive to major metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

The packaged filter coffee market is estimated at 20,660 tonnes, of which pure coffee is around 200 tonnes and mixed coffee at 20,460 tonnes. The market in India is dominated by HLL (Green Label) which has a 68 per cent market share, followed by Narasu Coffee's 13 per cent and Tata Coffee's 8 per cent. The balance is made up of the unorganised sector.