Culinary Brands signs exclusive license for the premium Lavazza brand in India
December 2 - 2022
Coffee Geography Magazine
By Emily Masters
Culinary Brands (CB), part of Everstone Group, signed an exclusive license for the premium Lavazza brand in India. CB also acquired from Lavazza Group a significant majority stake in Fresh and Honest Café Limited (F&H), the owners of the manufacturing facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh (with a capacity of 9,000 tons per annum) and of the affordable 'Fresh and Honest' coffee brand.
CB is the exclusive Master Franchisee of Subway in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. This partnership was a significant step in Subway's transformation journey and expansion plans globally. Under this exclusive agreement, CB will triple Subway stores in India over 10 years.
Dev Amritesh, CEO of Culinary Brands commented, "After acquiring the exclusive master franchisee rights for Subway, we are very proud and excited to acquire F&H. F&H owns the affordable Fresh and Honest coffee brand and has the exclusive rights for the premium Lavazza brand. Leveraging these strong brands, F&H's manufacturing capability, and our strong leadership team with experience of building large F&B businesses in India, we look forward to making Lavazza and Fresh and Honest the beverage of choice for Indians through distribution, product leadership, partnerships and enhanced presence across channels and consumption opportunities."
Dev Amritesh, CEO of Culinary Brands
Dev Amritesh joined Culinary Brands earlier this year, from Compass Group in India, part of Compass PLC, where he was the Managing Director - India. Prior to this, Dev worked with leading consumer companies including Whirlpool, Cadbury, and Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. (JFL). In his last role at JFL, Dev was the President and Chief Business officer of Domino's Pizza India and Sri Lanka.
"Lavazza Group has been operating in India for the last 15 years. We believe that such credible and solid local partner will ensure the achievement of the full potential and that Lavazza brand will have an even stronger growth and positioning in the future as India grows its consumption of coffee," said Antonio Baravalle, CEO of Lavazza Group. In the transaction, Lavazza was assisted by BDA Partners, Desai & Diwanji and Deloitte India.
Antonio Baravalle, CEO of Lavazza Group
Lavazza, founded in Turin in 1895, has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations. Today the Group is one of the leading players on the global coffee scene, with turnover of over € 2.3 billion and a portfolio of top brands that lead their respective markets, such as Lavazza, Carte Noire, Merrild and Kicking Horse. It is active in all business sectors and has operations in 140 markets, with 9 manufacturing plants in 6 countries and over 4,200 collaborators all over the world.