Ishita Nigam
10 Oct 2023
The Bengaluru-based coffee startup, which started operations in 2016, offers locally sourced special coffee at affordable prices.
If the tea-drinking audience wasn’t enough, Starbucks faces stiff competition from Indian rivals like Third Wave and Blue Tokai Coffee. Blue Tokai is still a Minicorn with a funding of $46 million, while Third Wave Coffee now has a valuation of $150 million. Canadian Tim Hortons and British Pret a Manger also entered the Indian market this year.
For every three Starbucks outlets, one Third Wave Coffee is luring their customers away with cheaper pricing for a brilliant cup of coffee. The startup is also present in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Coonoor. In Bengaluru alone, Third Wave Coffee operates 40 outlets compared to Starbucks’ 35. It has led Starbucks to sign a lease with a Bengaluru Mall with a ‘Café Exclusivity’ clause to be the only café on the floor.
Starbucks introduced the Indian Chai for ₹185 to lure the 91% tea-drinking Indian population.