After Pret A Manger and Muji Cafes, Reliance Retail is now preparing to introduce Armani/Caffé and London-based boutique EL&N in the country
New Delhi: Reliance Retail, which is the India partner of more than 70 global top-end to mass fashion brands, is now looking to ramp up its global café offering as affluent young Indians are increasingly seeking experiential café culture.
Reliance Brands, the upmarket global brand seller for the Mumbai conglomerate, already operates about a dozen outlets of coffee chain London-based Pret A Manger in the country. Two months ago, Reliance Brands also introduced Muji Café at the Jio World Plaza, where the Japanese brand is offering artisan brew to curated snacks.
Reliance Retail is now preparing to introduce two more cafes in India—the uber-swish Armani/Caffé and London-based boutique EL&N, which claims to be the “world’s most Instagrammable café,” owing to its lush decorations.
In April 2023, EL&N had signed a franchise agreement with Reliance Brands to open EL&N-branded cafes in India, its eighth market globally.
EL&N operates more than two dozen restaurants in various countries including Italy, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar among other nations. Reliance Retail is looking to open the first EL&N café in India later this year or early next year, according to a source.
IndiaRetailing had reported in 2022 that Reliance Retail is in advanced talks with Milan-based luxury company Armani to bring the Michelin-starred Armani/Caffè to India. As part of the project, Reliance Retail was in talks with Phoenix Mall of Asia in Bengaluru to take up space for the Armani/Caffè. The mall had earmarked about 1,000 sq. ft. in the shopping centre for the high-end café there, IndiaRetailing had reported. Another Armani/Café could come in Jio World Plaza, the upmarket mall owned by Reliance Industries Ltd, sources said.
Sources aware of Reliance Retail’s plans said even though the company is ramping up Pret A Manger chain rapidly, the high-end chains like Muji and Armani/Caffe would be opened in small numbers and only in top cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and New Delhi, at least in the initial years.
