Barista Coffee to be sold?

Is the Barista Coffee brand cursed?

With a sizeable presence in one of the world’s most exciting coffee markets, you would think that Barista Coffee would be mildly competitive, even if they are jostling with Starbucks and Cafe Coffee Day.

However Barista Coffee (formerly Barista Lavazza) has been on a downward trend for a while now and despite changing hands last year, it seems that the struggling coffee chain is up for sale yet again.

It was only last year that the chain was bought by Carnation Hospitality Ltd (operating on behalf of Amtek), who took the company off the hands (and books) of the Italian coffee giants Lavazza.

For a while now it has been clear that there is something fundamentally wrong with the business.

Lavazza had been actively trying to offload Barista before they were ultimately successful and twelve months ago it was reported that revenue in the coffee shop chain had dropped by $2.5m.

Also, in the two year period between March 2011 and March 2013 Barista had recorded losses of nearly $2m.

It is worth pointing out that it isn’t like Barista is a small enterprise; they are India’s second biggest coffee chain (in terms of stores), second only to Cafe Coffee Day.

Now, barely a year after the takeover, it seems that Amtek Group is looking to sell off Barista Coffee. According to the Economic Times of India, three senior officials have been directly involved with the decision.

It is believed that Amtek are looking to bring in an external consultancy firm, Grant Thornton, to help identify potential buyers and expedite the deal.

If Barista is sold, the new owners would be the fifth in the company’s history.

Fifth time lucky perhaps?