By Tias Chakraborty

In a concept that took the food and beverage (F&B) market by storm, Café Chokolade has emerged as one of the biggest success stories from the sector in recent years. With desserts to die for, the company has expanded quickly and successfully throughout India and it is clear that the journey for the company (AP Confectionery) has just begun.

Ameet Pahilani, the man behind the Café Chokolade sensation shares in an exclusive interview some of the challenges, plans and anecdotes in the making of his company.



Excerpts from the interview are given below:

What led to the inception of Café Chokolade?
On my return to India after my academic and short career stint in London, I was offered to take over Cad-B, a brand under the company AP Confectionery. At that point, the company wasn’t fully functional. I decided to grab this offer since I believed that I could turn the tables in my favour. This venture consumed all the finances I had at my disposal, but I eventually emerged successful in my endeavour. I later changed the brand name from Cad-B to Café Chokolade.

How do you think your products stood out from the rest of the competition in the frozen dessert market?
We stood out from the rest of the market due to our unique product, taste and quality. Initially, we had only two products, Cad-B and Cad-M, which are now known as Chokolade–B and Chokolade–M. We have introduced different flavours in the same.

As our product is mostly consumed by youngsters, we have priced the products in a way which is affordable to everyone. In addition to our flagship products, we have also come up with natural flavoured ice creams. This would always help us to be competitive in the market and build strong customer base.

What do you think has been the biggest achievement for the company so far?
Currently we have 90 outlets in 30 different cities across India. We have grown from 25 outlets in August 2010 to 90 outlets by May 2011. By opening 90 outlets in 2 years we have generated direct employment for more than 300 people. Also, indirectly while building the business we have created employment for people like carpenters, plumbers, electrician and all the people related to it. This helped the SME segment in a great way.

What are the biggest challenges in the F&B market in India today? How do you cope with them?
Retention of customers to our brand – In the F&B industry, people today have lots of options. So having customers stick to our brand is very important.

Delivering quality products – Not only delivering quality product but maintaining the quality level is very important.

Good service – Even if you have the best product but not good service it would not suffice. Good service in terms of quality, customer interaction, cleanliness and feedback is very important.

Constantly innovating new products – Coming up with new products is very important, as this helps in customer retention.

Besides, constantly keeping in touch with customers through advertisements, engaging them through social media and coming up with various offers are also quite essential to retain customers.

What would be your five key suggestions to young entrepreneurs entering the sector?
Belief in oneself – One has to believe in himself and be confident about the decisions he has taken. There would be times when you would feel that the entire world is against you. But belief in yourself and your vision is very important.

Always deliver quality products – In the F&B industry maintaining the quality is very important. In any situation one should never compromise on quality. Quality comes at a cost, hence it might affect the margins, but in the long run it will always pay off.

Be optimistic even during crisis and success – One should not lose his calm in crisis situations and also during one’s success. There were times when I was put in tough situations by external forces, but by remaining calm and determined I sailed through such periods. To be grounded in any situation is very important in business.

Risk taking ability – There would be times when you would need to take decisions which could change your life completely. Until you would not take decisions which you think are risky you would never know what lies on the other side.

Accepting mistakes – Business is a learning process and one does make mistakes during the process. But realising or accepting the mistakes and not repeating them and rather improving are the step towards success.

Where do you see the company five years from now?
In five years from now, I intend to open more outlets across India. Also, I hope that Café Chokolade will be an Indian Brand that will make its name globally.