Roastery Coffee House, the popular cafe tucked inside South Kolkata Club has turned three. On the occasion of its anniversary, The Telegraph chatted with Nishanth Sinha, founder, Roastery Coffee House, on the journey of the cafe, growing coffee culture and plans for the national brand.
Congratulations on Roastery Coffee House turning three in Kolkata! How would you sum up the journey from 2019?
The journey has been profoundly gratifying. We have successfully revolutionised the city’s coffee culture. We witnessed such an inclination towards specialty coffee here that in January this year we built an independent roasting unit with a brand new roasting machine to meet the growing demand for our coffee in eastern India.
It’s been quite a ride considering the pandemic came in between…. How did you cope up with the loss the entire F&B industry was dealing with?
The pandemic was a tough time for all of us. Each one of us had a challenging time, even more so because so many of us had our families fall sick. We learnt to cope. Fortunately, people read a lot about coffee and even tried their hand at home brewing when our cafes weren’t open. The pandemic, in a way, spread a lot of education about coffee and home brewing. This gave us an edge. We sold coffees like we never did before.
Plus, Kolkata has always loved the food we make. We were able to deliver food through delivery apps.
Roastery was one of the earliest cafes in the city to focus so deeply into coffee. What’s your take on Kolkata as a market for coffee?
Kolkata has always been a city of refined tastes. And when we came in, no one was serving good coffee. We knew that the people of Kolkata would love our coffee because Roastery Coffee is delicious and we offer a host of brews. Our cafe is a space that’s loved by all. We strive every single day to deliver superior quality food and service to give our guests a wholesome Roastery experience.
So if I have to sum up, it is our coffee, our food and service that helped us make a place in people’s hearts. When we opened, there was hardly any knowledge or even interest regarding coffee. Right now, guests know which estate they prefer, the brew they want to order, and which coffee they’d like to brew at home. There’s been a huge change since 2019 — now we roast three times the coffee than we did when we opened our Kolkata cafe.
You had launched with the idea of educating people... do you think after so many years you have succeeded? Have people grown beyond cappuccino and lattes?
Yes absolutely. We have come a long way. There’s both interest and curiosity. So much so that the number of home brewers is ever increasing. However, with education, there is no limit. I am a learner who is always learning. Incidentally, I also love to share knowledge, especially about coffee. Our communication on Instagram focuses on educating our followers about coffee — starting from beans to brews, estates, machines, farming processes and others. We are also always available to answer all questions. The staff in our cafe do a fabulous job with helping guests understand the different brews, estates etc.
For instance, we were the first cafe to serve cascara in India. Cascara is the coffee husk that is brewed like you’d brew any other tea. It is filled with antioxidants and makes for a delicious beverage. No one knew about cascara when we started but now there’s so much love for cascara that patrons are even buying it for home brewing. The husk, that was considered a waste product for centuries, is now bringing income to farmers.
What are your plans with Roastery Kolkata now?
We are always on the lookout to deliver a better experience. For instance, we have included vegan options in our menu. Even the milk coffees such as cappuccino or latte are now available in vegan options. The milk used is plant based and it retains the same taste and frothiness that the milk variety has. We have included several healthy food options in our menu. We also have gourmet Italian in our menu where we serve fresh handmade pasta.
Roastery as a brand has completed five years. Tell us about your big plans for the brand.
We celebrated our brand’s fifth anniversary this July by opening two new cafes, thus, taking the total to five cafes in five different cities. Now we are in Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi/NCR, Lucknow and Jaipur. Lucknow and Jaipur are our brand new additions.
At present we are busy with the opening of Roastery Coffee House Jaipur and we are busy brainstorming on doing special things for our patrons on the occasion of our fifth anniversary.
As a team, our biggest objective is to deliver the best coffee, food, service, hospitality and ambience in all our cafes to all our guests. This aside, we are working to introduce newer estates, newer products and open cafes in other cities.
What do you think is trending in the cafe culture, cafe food scenario?
The Indian coffee industry has just taken off and we have a very long way to go. As a coffee brand, we dream to enter households of all coffee drinkers. We want to be their go-to choice for coffee.
As for trends, in F&B, the only thing that will always trend is superior quality — coffee, food, ambience, service, hospitality and communication.
Roastery (Kolkata) at a glance
Most ordered coffee: Cranberry coffee, cappuccino
Most ordered grub: Basque Cheesecake, Zucchini Fries, sandwiches and salads, breakfast platters
Fave selfie corner: Outdoor
Busiest time of the year: All year round
Most interesting event/pop-up held: “As a brand, we keep doing experiential events and activities. The event that stood out best was the elaborate alpona that decorated our corridor in Diwali. The alpona was done by a lady who isn’t a professional artist but does spectacular art. The idea came to us from the observation that the women in our household are such naturals when it comes to alpona that we take their art for granted,” said Nishanth.
Average age group of guests: “Ours is the only cafe where you’d find age groups starting at eight years old to 80 years old. We are a family cafe.”