After 20 years, Parle re-enters cola market with Café Cuba

, Sept 24: Two decades after it hived off its carbonated soft drinks portfolio, Parle Agro announced its re-entry into the Rs 15,000-crore cola market early next year with the launch Café Cuba, a coffee-flavoured carbonated drink.

Parle Agro had sold its popular and iconic soft drink brands namely Thums Up, Limca, Gold Spot and Citra, to Coca-Cola in 1993 and had also signed a non-compete agreement for ten years.

Even today, after two decades, the Thums Up brand remains so strong that American cola major Coca Cola has not managed to push its global flagship brand Coke, ahead of this locally developed drink, making India the only market in the world, where Coke trails a group brand in market share.

The company plans to roll out Café Cuba by January or February 2014 and is aiming to garner a market share of 7 per cent within the very first year of its launch. "We are creating a completely new category in the carbonated soft drinks space. The carbonated drinks market only has lemon, cola and orange flavours. So we thought this could stand out clearly. The vision is to create a differentiated product and it took us 10 years to develop it," Parle Agro Chairman and Managing Director Prakash Chauhan told.

Parle Agro to make a comeback with Cafe Cola

Primarily targeted at the youth, Café Cuba will be priced at Rs 20 for a 250 ml can and Rs 15 for 250 ml in a PET bottle. The product will also be available in 500 ml and 1 ltr, but Chauhan declined to talk about their pricing.

The carbonated soft drink business is highly competitive and Chauhan said the company would not compromise on pricing. "There is a slight premium on the product. We can't get into tighter pricing," he said.

PTI