‘Tata is running Starbucks, not going anywhere’: Netizens react after company refutes exit rumours

Starbucks will continue operations in India as stated by Tata Consumer Products, bringing a pause to the speculation about the coffee giant’s exit from India. However, social media users flooded the internet with mixed reactions over this development. Denying reports that American coffee giant Starbucks will close operations in India, joint venture partner Tata Consumer Products (TCP) issued a statement.

Tata Consumer Products clarifies

Recently, reports stating that Starbucks was struck with slow footfalls and inflation emerged that speculated Starbucks’ withdrawal from the Indian market. TCP addressed these rumours and stated, “Reports of Starbucks looking to exit India (are) completely false and baseless. Tata’s relationship with Starbucks stands strong with shared values and commitment to India,” Tata Consumer told CNBC-TV18 on December 19.

According to a Reuters report dated December 15, TCP plans to push back plans for some new Starbucks store openings until later amid low footfalls. “We will calibrate for the short term — maybe instead of opening 100, we will open 80 now, and next year we will open 120 instead of 100. Tata Starbucks is still focused on reaching its 2028 goal to operate 1,000 stores by 2028,” Reuters quoted Tata Consumer CEO Sunil D’Souza as saying.

Notably, joint venture partner Tata operates over 450 Starbucks stores in India. Sunil D’souza said that this number is more than double compared to four years back. Let’s have a look at Starbucks’ sales and revenue. Starbucks’ sales in India shot up by 12 per cent to $143.6 million in the last financial year, but the revenue rose only marginally in H1FY24.

‘My heart skipped a beat’

Netizens were abuzz after it was confirmed that the speculation about Starbucks exit was false, as one user stated, “Starbucks coffee in India is worst. There is only boiled water, no coffee. When you complain, they just serve another brew with little extra coffee. No standard recipe.” Another user replied, “My heart almost skipped a beat when I read Starbucks is leaving India.”

A third user stated, “Starbucks seriously needs to work on their pricing. Indians are not coffee lovers except in the south plus the kind of pricing Starbucks has is insane. This kind of differentiation is not in foreign countries.” A fourth user wrote, “If you’re launching something in India and want to make it accessible to everyone you need to pull the rates to the Indian level.”

A fifth user stated, “India has been Starbucks most aggressive markets and they have penetrated well with multiple stores.” A sixth user commented, “Tata is running starbucks in India. It is not going anywhere.” A seventh user remarked, “Starbucks is a common coffee in US, while in India it’s seen as luxury.”