Carnation hires Deloitte to advise on absorbing Barista

NEW DELHI: Carnation Hospitality, which acquired coffee chain Barista last month, has hired consulting firm Deloitte to advise on absorbing the business.

“Deloitte will help us in our foods business,” said Sanjay Chhabra, director of Carnation Hospitality. “We work with many other consulting firms for other projects.”

Carnation Hospitality is a unit of Rollatainers, which has interests in consumer packaging, restaurants and food services. It’s planning a joint venture with IMM to set up Jamie’s Italian Restaurants in the country.

Barista, the second largest coffee chain in the country, was acquired by Carnation Hospitality for close to Rs 70 crore.

Having changed ownership at least four times, Barista has been struggling to keep up with rival chains such as Starbucks, Café Coffee Day and Costa Coffee.

The Indian café market is estimated at Rs 1,400 crore, and is expected to grow 13-14% a year over the next five years. The category is struggling owing to high rentals and slowing consumer sales, with most chains reporting single-digit growth.