Paratha (Rs 35), idli-vada sambhar (Rs 30-35), biryani (Rs 70-80), lassi (Rs 50), filter coffee (Rs 40-45)…
No, this is not the menu at your neighbourhood dhaba, but at one of 230 Barista outlets across the country that by the end of the year will be offering a dash of Indian food along with Italian.
“Customisation in food is the need of the day,” said Sanjay Coutinho, chief operating officer, Barista Coffee Company Ltd. “In an experiment at our Bengaluru-Mysore highway outlet, we realised our menu has to be much more elaborate and more Indian.”
Within the next three months, all 26 outlets in Bangalore will offer idlis, vadas, filter coffee and parathas.
And following a similar process — an experiment at Murthal on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway, a place famous for its Punjabi dhabas, this month — all the 70 outlets in Delhi and NCR region will see the Indianisation of their menus by end-2009.
“If I had a choice I’d prefer vada and paratha over any of the existing items available in the shop,” said Gurmeet Singh (29), an executive and a regular at Barista’s Connaught Place outlet.
The prices for continental items are comparable — Apple Pie (Rs 49), Veggie Puff (Rs 32), and coffee, which starts at Rs 40.
But despite the change of cuisine, Barista will retain its coffee identity. “Coffee is and will remain the core promise that Barista Lavazza delivers on,” said Coutinho.
Lavazza is Italy’s largest and the world’s sixth largest coffee company.
Source: Hindustan Times
