Culinary Brands announces an exclusive agreement with Lavazza in India.
Culinary Brands (CB), part of Everstone Group, signed an exclusive license for the premium Lavazza brand in India. This is the second such exclusive partnership by Culinary Brands for India in the food and beverage space, after taking exclusive master franchise rights for Subway.
IndiaRetailing was the first to report the news about this development on 19 December. IndiaRetailing had also reported that Everstone will sell Lavazza coffee vending machines in India as part of the agreement.
“We believe that such a credible and solid local partner will ensure the achievement of the full potential and that Lavazza brand will have even stronger growth and positioning in the future as India grows its consumption of coffee,” said Antonio Baravalle, CEO of Lavazza Group.
The Italian manufacturer of coffee products Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. was founded in 1895. Today the brand has operations in 140 markets, with 9 manufacturing plants in 6 countries and over 4,200 collaborators all over the world.
This is a re-entry for Lavazza in India after it shut its Lavazza-branded coffee store chain in India several years ago. Read more about the story here. Lavazza was assisted by BDA Partners, Desai & Diwanji, and Deloitte India in the transaction.
CB is the exclusive Master Franchisee of Subway in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. This partnership was a significant step in Subway’s transformation journey and expansion plans globally. Under this exclusive agreement, CB will triple Subway stores in India over 10 years.
CB also acquired from Lavazza Group a significant majority stake in Fresh and Honest Café Limited (F&H), the owners of the manufacturing facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, and of the affordable ‘Fresh and Honest’ coffee brand.
“After acquiring the exclusive master franchisee rights for Subway, we are very proud and excited to acquire F&H. F&H owns the affordable Fresh and Honest coffee brand and has the exclusive rights for the premium Lavazza brand,” said Dev Amritesh, CEO of Culinary Brands.
