Coffee-lover Muffazal Lakdawala also has mugs from US Navy warships and Indian Army, gifted by friends.
Muffazal Lakdawala, founder of Digestive Health Institute, is a busy man and his work often sees him travelling around the world. And he takes advantage of the travel by buying himself a unique souvenir from whichever city or country he’s going to: Coffee mugs. “I just started collecting it as a hobby, to see how many cities or countries I would end up visiting. All I can say now is I have travelled a lot,” he says. “Over 175 mugs and counting.”
Why coffee mugs though? “Coffee is my favourite drink; it’s a good excuse for me to meet my wife Priyanka and generally catch up on life,” he says.
Even his friends are amazed, and keep gifting him more mugs. “I got an entire series of mugs from the US Navy warships from a family friend and mugs from the Indian Army Training Academy, which my father-in-law gave. These can only be gifted; they cannot be bought,” he says.
What’s next then? “Maybe something from the Rashtrapati Bhavan or the WHO or the UN headquarters,” he says.
Remembering VG Siddhartha, The Man Who Introduced Coffee Culture In India
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The disappearance and demise of Café Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha left the country in shock. On Saturday, the coffee tycoon wrote a letter addressed to his 'Coffee Day' family where he apologised to them for failing as an entrepreneur and opened up about the pressure he had been dealing with. On Monday he went missing from Mangaluru, and 36 hours later his body was recovered by the fishermen in the city's Hoige Bazaar.
The tragic episode saw tributes pour in for the billionaire businessman, whose 'A lot can happen over a coffee' idea brought enthusiasts closer and sparked the trend of coffee dates in India.
Despite running a mega empire, the camera-shy 60-year-old tycoon preferred to stay away from the limelight and mostly maintained a low-profile.
The disappearance and demise of Café Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha left the country in shock. On Saturday, the coffee tycoon wrote a letter addressed to his 'Coffee Day' family where he apologised t..
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Siddhartha was born in 1960 to coffee plantation owner Gangaiah Hegde in Chikkamagalur, Karnataka (his family has been in the coffee business for almost 130 years). Growing up in the district known for its coffee estates, the coffee baron completed his master's degree from Mangalore University.
During the early '90s, as a budding entrepreneur, he tied the knot with Malavika Hegde, the daughter of former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Indian Minister for External Affairs and Governor of Maharashtra, S.M. Krishna. They had two sons, Ishan and Amarthya.
Siddhartha was born in 1960 to coffee plantation owner Gangaiah Hegde in Chikkamagalur, Karnataka (his family has been in the coffee business for almost 130 years). Growing up in the district known f..
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He began his career at the age of 24 as a management trainee with JM Financial Limited in Mumbai, where he worked from 1983 to '84. In the mid '80s, he invested his earnings in the stock market on Chikkamagaluru's coffee plantations, and in 1984, bought an investment banking and brokering firm, Sivan Securities - that was later renamed to Way2Wealth Securities Ltd.
A few years later, using the money given to him by his father as capital, he bought a coffee unit in Hassan, and founded Amalgamated Bean Company Trading in 1993. Two years later, it became India’s largest green coffee exporter. Siddhartha grew coffee, sold and exported tonnes of it, earning millions from the business. The owner of 12,000 acres of coffee plantation, he also had 200 exclusive retail outlets selling his Coffee Day powder all over South India.
In 1996, he set up his first coffee outlet, naming it Café Coffee Day. The first CCD opened its doors at Brigade Road in Bengaluru.
Twenty-three years later, the brand now runs over 1700 outlets, making CCD the country's largest retail coffee chain. It also operates cafes in Austria, Malaysia, and Egypt.
With a burgeoning business to bank on, Siddhartha earned a spot on the 2014 Forbes India's Rich list. However, a year later, he dropped off.
He began his career at the age of 24 as a management trainee with JM Financial Limited in Mumbai, where he worked from 1983 to '84. In the mid '80s, he invested his earnings in the stock market on Ch..
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2017 proved to be the start of a professionally difficult time for Siddhartha, who was then also attending to his 94-year-old father at the time. The coffee tycoon found himself caught in the middle of a tax evasion case. 20 properties owned by him, in Bengaluru, Chennai, Chikkamagaluru and Mumbai, were subjected to a raid by the income tax department.
2017 proved to be the start of a professionally difficult time for Siddhartha, who was then also attending to his 94-year-old father at the time. The coffee tycoon found himself caught in the middle ..
