Unknown Facts About Cafe Coffee Day VG Siddhartha

The famed owner of Café Coffee Day chain of coffee shops VG Siddhartha was also exporting the largest quantity of coffee from India. The creator of the coffee empire went missing on Monday, July 29, 2019 when he went for a walk on the bridge of Netravati River in Dakshina Kannada. On Wednesday morning, July 31, 2019, his body was found in the waters of the river by a group of fishermen revealing the fact that VG Siddhartha had committed suicide. When the whole world is so shocked and surprised to know what could have forced the business tycoon to resort to such extreme measures, here are a few interesting facts about VG Siddhartha that will inspire anyone.

• Siddhartha founded the country’s first ever coffee chain. He was also the son in law of SM Krishna, former chief minister.
• After the news about his suicide was known publicly, a letter written by him to the CCB Board and his family was found. In this letter, Siddhartha had stated that he was giving up not able to fight the pressures striking him from different directions. The letter also said he had "failed to create the right profitable business model" despite his best efforts.
• Siddhartha owned the Asia’s single largest coffee estate. In addition to the CCD, Siddhartha had also created a hospitality chain that runs a seven star resort named Serai and Cicada.
• CCD had employed about 30,000 employees around India. In a Rs. 3,000 crore deal, Siddhartha had sold his stake in Mindtree.
• Per year, the total volume of coffee exported by Siddhartha is about 28,000 tons. Another 2,000 tons of coffee is sold locally with the coffee growing and trading company reporting an annual turnover of Rs. 60 million.
• Siddhartha was 58 years of age when he died and he held a post-graduate degree in Economics. Their family owns about 15,000 acres of coffee estate and is the Largent coffee planters.
• A month before Siddhartha’s death, Coca-cola had started talks to purchase a major stake in Café Coffee Day, the largest café chain in India. This was considered to be a well-calculated strategy that would hedge the risks connected with the selling of Coca-cola beverages in India and help the company to gain a strong foothold in the sub-continent if the deal had been realized.
• Way back in 1985, Siddhartha had owned about 10,000 acres of coffee farms. As per his statement, he doubled his investment in the coffee plantations within a year when the coffee trading was liberalized in the 90s.
• Siddhartha started the Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Ltd (ABCTCL) in 1993 to export coffee and the company became the second largest exporter of coffee from India.
• The first store of CCD was opened in Brigade Road of Bengaluru that charged Rs. 100 for a coffee and an hour of Internet surfing. The first launch of the CCD proved successful as it happened during the time when Bengaluru was turning into an IT and lifestyle haven. This environment helped Siddhartha grow his fortune quickly.