SLAY Coffee focused on coffee outside the café to brew strong sales amid the pandemicFounded by a couple who missed New York’s coffee culture, Bangalore-based cloud-kitchen delivery startup Slay Coffee claims 3X growth amid the pandemic, and is now eyeing expansion.
“There are cafes everywhere, and you find good coffee so easily. In Bangalore, you have Udupi restaurants mostly serving filter coffees. They are really good, but not the same,” Chaitanya says.
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In the begining...The cloud kitchen model came into existence after many trials and errors. In 2015, the firm was facing competition from Delhi-based Muhavra Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.’s Blue Tokai, which was started in 2012, and other established FMCG coffee brands. The lack of internet penetration meant Chaitanya and Lakshmi would have to focus more on the retail route, just like any other new F&B brand back then. The founding duo shared a coffee-specific survey on Facebook and garnered responses from 10,000 people. One of the learnings was that people wanted quality coffee at lower price points.
The couple decided to solve their own pain point and in 2015 started DropKaffe Food & Beverages Pvt. Ltd., which sells SLAY Coffee through a cloud kitchen model.The brand promises to deliver hot gourmet coffee within 30 minutes, with a snack for Rs 200-300. “You can think of it as Domino's pizza’s business model, but for coffee,” he says.
Strong focus on the brewThe coffee seller is currently competing with the likes of Tata Consumer Pvt. Ltd.’s Starbucks, in the coffee ordering segment. DropKaffe competes with biggies such as Nescafe and direct-to-consumer brands including Blue Tokai and Kolkata-based Country Bean in the coffee powder and bean segment. With people locked in their homes, online ordering has increased and food delivery aggregators, including Zomato and Swiggy, have reported record orders. Chaitanya says brand discovery increased during the lockdowns and there has been a steady flow of orders. The brand claims to have grown 3X in FY21 compared to FY20, and saw a 5 percent growth in orders during the second pandemic wave in April 2021. The company, which raised $5 million from Rebel Foods and other investors in 2019, and has so far invested Rs 40 crore in the business. The founders have set their sights on international expansion and have plans to enter Dubai, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian markets in the coming years. The brand is also planning to expand their SLAY Coffee Bars for a “grab-and-go experience”.
“There will be a few seats available and customers can just take their coffee and get on with things,” Chaitanya says. These small-size bars will be located at airports, shopping areas, and offices. “We plan to open around 15 100 sq ft cafes in Bangalore, among other metro cities.”
