How EGK’s coffee brand grew from a passion project to a pan-India presence — one region, one blend, one insight at a time
When we launched Kaffo, our goal wasn’t to become the next big name in coffee overnight. It was to understand what people actually wanted in their morning cup — and deliver that with consistency, quality, and care.
We began with:
A single curated blend
A test market with high coffee consumption
A tight feedback loop from retailers and early customers
Direct delivery models to control experience
Instead of rushing into 100 SKUs or 10 states, we focused on mastering one market and one product line at a time. That became the foundation for smart, sustainable scaling.
Our initial launch was hyper-focused — just one city, just a few retail partners, just a few hundred trial customers. But we treated it like a live lab.
We studied:
Purchase patterns by format (filter vs. instant vs. roasted beans)
Preferences across pricing bands
Packaging usability feedback
Shelf pickup vs. referral-based trials
The insight? Consumers were drawn to bold blends with a balanced finish, packaged cleanly, priced accessibly — but with a premium tone. That data shaped how we expanded product lines later.
🟢 Takeaway: Don’t scale before you know what actually works. Let real-world feedback refine your roadmap.
Scaling a coffee brand isn’t just about sourcing beans — it’s about ensuring consistency across time, region, and demand fluctuations.
So we invested early in:
Multi-region sourcing partnerships (Chikmagalur, Coorg, Wayanad)
Batch control and traceability systems
Temperature-controlled storage and transport
Packaging automation for consistency and speed
Even when volumes were small, we thought like a national brand. That saved us when demand grew faster than expected in certain clusters.
🟢 Takeaway: Don’t retrofit operations. Build for scale before scale hits you.
While our core messaging was universal (bold coffee, better mornings), the way we delivered it shifted by region.
In the South:
We used regional-language packaging and ads
Focused on filter coffee traditions
Worked with local cafes and influencers
In metro cities:
We leaned into “exotic blends, delivered to your door”
Partnered with wellness and lifestyle brands for bundling
Used DTC and social media for discovery
In Tier 2 towns:
We emphasized family-sized packs and value-for-money
Ran offline sampling events in retail stores
🟢 Takeaway: Localization isn’t optional. Customize your tone, channels, and even products per region.
We didn’t always get it right. Early versions of Kaffo’s pouches were hard to reseal. A pricing promotion backfired in one market. A bean batch once had to be recalled due to humidity damage.
But we didn’t hide. We:
Sent apology letters and replacement packs
Publicly acknowledged quality issues
Updated customers via social posts and newsletters
Took learnings straight into process updates
The response? Our customers respected the transparency. Many became more loyal, not less.
🟢 Takeaway: Mistakes happen. How you handle them determines brand equity.
Kaffo didn’t scale alone. It scaled with:
Local distributors who believed in the product
Retailers who pushed trials
Cafes that co-branded pop-ups
Freelancers who helped with regional content and translation
Partners who trusted our logistics to fulfill on time
We made sure they weren’t just middlemen — they were part of the brand’s growth journey.
That meant:
Transparent incentives
Co-branded campaigns
Backend tools for easy reordering
Fast response support from our internal team
🟢 Takeaway: Scaling is a shared journey. Treat partners like growth enablers, not just nodes in your supply chain.
Available across 8 states
6 curated blends across roast levels and formats
Sold in retail, Horeca, and online DTC
Collaborations with chefs, fitness coaches, and even art cafes
But more importantly, Kaffo is becoming a brand people associate with energy, taste, and trust. And that’s what we set out to build.
Export pilots to UAE and Singapore
Single-origin micro-batch series
Cold brew and flavored variants
Office pantry solutions for urban workspaces
A digital loyalty program built into our platform
The vision remains: make every cup memorable — not just by flavor, but by experience.
Kaffo didn’t grow because we poured money into ads or opened hundreds of accounts blindly. It grew because we:
Listened deeply
Scaled deliberately
Responded honestly
Built infrastructure ahead of time
Treated every touchpoint — product, platform, partner — with respect
That’s how you scale smart.
And that’s how we’ll continue to grow — not just Kaffo, but every brand we create at EGK.
