Beginning a busy new day with a hot, fuming cup of authentic filter coffee has been a routine for millions of people in India and worldwide. Coffee sets in the mood with the aroma of its fuming froth catching the attention of every burdened soul. The taste refreshes the mind and appeals deeply to the personality of the connoisseurs. Undoubtedly, it has gained rapid popularity over the last eight decades since it was introduced and popularized by Indian coffee houses in the mid-1940s.
Coffee is relished at almost any hour of the day as it has an energetic effect giving the best of the taste of deep classic and authentic coffee. As an active part of the daily routine, filter coffee has been an active menu item for gatherings, office meetings and celebrations.
With many restaurants and outlets looking at coffee serving as just another business, authentic filter coffee has been ignored. To satiate the taste buds of passionate coffee lovers by bringing back that genuine filtered brew, Madras Premium Coffee’s Co-founder and Director, Prasanna Venkatesh, began his venture. Madras Premium provides the best brewed authentic filter coffee since June 2010 in Chennai.
The Saga of Taste
Madras Premium Coffee is a multi-chain of coffee shops, specializing in filter coffee. It has a wide range of options available on the menu to attract all age groups. Prasanna states, “We strongly desire to serve the best filter coffee in India.” Finest quality coffee beans from the Kodagu plantation on the Western Ghats are procured, roasted and ground mixed well with chicory to enhance its strength in taste.
He furthers they specialize in serving the filter coffee in an ancient method in a brass cup with milk froth added on its top, serving the best Authentic filter coffee with a good ambience and with a complete electric setup, making them stand unique, as India has the rate of most unemployed youth can make them entrepreneurs with a low investment and no chef business model.
A Robust Business Model
Madras Premium Coffee is a brand that sells customers strong, authentic filter coffee at an affordable price. It offers more flavours in coffee and a business model that could help the franchisee sustain for a longer period than any franchisee by choosing the kiosk model. Prasanna adds, “We make an exclusivity for the franchisee at Two Km each.” So even if they must vacate the existing place and shift the outlet with a nominal cost, they can start their business within their fixed location.
The main aspect of choosing their franchisee is the appearance they make, the fresh, authentic filter coffee taste, and the process of making coffee simple with fixed measuring units of formulae using electric machinery. The company will provide everything, like giving the franchisee a kiosk unit/shop, machinery, interiors, kitchen setup, ingredients, and training so that they can completely reduce the burden and mainly focus on business.
The Visionary Leadership
Driven by the passion for offering different solutions to the needs of the people, Prasanna began this unique venture. He said, “It all started in 2020, after the lockdown. I had to close my family business for such a crisis at that time; despite staying in the house for such a long time, my confidence has dried, and I can’t choose my capabilities of what to do and how to survive.” So, Prasanna decided to travel all around the country to explore himself. He says our country is very routed to have tea stalls. However, he did not find coffee tasted that good throughout his trip.
India has a very large market cap with no cultural differences among the people. More than 50 % of people are likely to have coffee as a routine in the morning. But they left the old method of having filter coffee, adding the freshly brewed beans with hot water to extract the decoction and hot boiling milk in a brass cup with froth on its top.
“I thought of starting a coffee shop in a kiosk setup, of no chef required, by using milk pasteurizer and coffee filter completely electric,” he says.
Empowering Technologies
Being a modern and tech-savvy professional, Prasanna identifies that the role of technology is very important in regular and commercial lives. He mentions that their startup has taken a step towards a more environment-friendly approach as the world battles climate change. They do not rely on cooking gas. Their kitchen equipment is based on electrical appliances. This approach offers a much cheaper investment and maintenance option, ensuring higher profits and a hassle-free working experience. Also, they encourage a kiosk setup wherever possible for their outlets. Their kiosks can be easily shifted to another location if needed. They are designed using the latest technologies to provide a convenient business space and ensure a wonderful customer experience.
From securing the best coffee beans to properly roasting, grinding, testing, and tasting them, Madras Premium has a dedicated team of R&D experts working to keep the standards high by adapting new technologies.
Countering Challenges, Innovatively
According to Prasanna, challenges have been the stepping stones which made them resilient and stronger. He says that initially, they offered more quantity and quality 110ml of coffee for a low cost of ₹20 without making it polluted with water, while the other competitors of less quantity 90ml mostly milk mixed with water 1/4th. Milk cost has never risen before the hike of ₹14 per litre from the past 15 years, and the Robusta plantation has even raised the price to the sky. So they decided to maintain high-quality standards to serve customers the best authentic filter coffee taste rather than cutting down the profit margins of the entire supply chain by increasing the variants in serving the coffee.
They decided to serve the customer a wide range menu like ₹20 in a paper cup to reduce by 10ml and making it 100ml and the same quantity of 110 ml with the ancient model of the brass cup, which could be served as per the customer interest. That pushed them a lot in the profit-making of the franchisee model, and by increasing the variants but not reducing the quality and quantity, they made customer satisfaction with the same cost-effective pricing model.
Guiding Words
Speaking as advice to budding professionals, Prasanna says that business is like hardship sinking in the ocean, like how much hard work you may put to sail the ship, but it goes whichever direction the wind comes. But at the end of the day, you must stabilize all the circumstances on your skills to survive in the present scenario.
Entrepreneurship is not rocket science, but you have to make the right decision at the right time at the right place, irrespective of the situation what it might be. Owning Madras Premium Coffee shop is a good thing, but the special skill in you is what makes you stand separate. In their brand, they made a business model to get high returns, and even if they lost the business (fewer sales) in that place, they could shift that to another place and again start selling coffee. Prasanna prefers youth to manage their own make coffee so they can easily know the process, reduce the maintenance cost, and never face loss. He always suggests the younger generation who are willing to become entrepreneurs must have the courage always but don’t lose confidence in themselves no matter what.
Take risks; without risk, no person succeeds, but it must be a calculated risk. The younger generation is the future of the bright Indian economy. Having an idea and bringing it to reality means you spend so much, risking everything and doing all the hard work. Like some wise, you must give time to your parents. Having a successful career and leaving your parents alone doesn’t make you a human. It would be best if you always cared for them, shoulder to shoulder, in their well-being. You must maintain a work-life balance. “Work is life, but you have to know what you are working on in life.”
Rising with Commitment and Quality
Envisaging a future of best quality and variety, Prasanna discloses that they want to add breakfast to the menu in a less variant model in future so the franchisee can setup the outlet at a very less cost by serving only the idle and coffee at a kiosk to the customers. It could help the customer reduce the waiting time at big restaurants and hotels so they can reach their business or office on time.
Madras Premium Coffee has established 58 franchisee outlets across India with the help of referencing and mouth publicity. For the next financial year, they are expecting 500 outlets across India, reveals Prasanna. “Our goal is to establish 4000 franchise outlets in every corner of India in the coming year,” he concludes.
