FHCL Brewing Business With ‘Earn & Pay’ Policy

EH&C Staff - Chennai

Fresh and Honest Cafe Ltd (FHCL), a part of the Sterling Group of Companies, is brewing business across India’s hospitality segment.

The company works on the ‘earn and pay’ principle, where a percentage of the revenue generated from the sale of each cup of coffee is paid to FHCL. With the market value of the imported machines being upto Rs five lakh, this joint franchisee with hotels means that FHCL simply charges installation fees, reaping financial rewards from the sale of coffee.

The company imports coffee brewing machines from Switzerland, installing them in hotels, restaurants, airports, corporate offices, embassies, etc complementing the machines with their own coffee beans.

FHCL also offers the ‘world’s best espresso coffee’, Illy, the European brand of espresso coffee. C R Sitaram, director, FHCL believes that, although the coffee is expensive, hotels offer it to meet client demands. “The clientele is so used to it, that now in many of the five-star hotels they’ve dedicated some machines just to Illy. We work in close collaboration with Illy on this,” he said.

“One of its strengths in the hospitality industry is that the Fresh and Honest logo does not compete with the brand identity of the hotel,” said A Chatterjee, product manager - hospitality division, FHCL. The company believes that the FHCL logo not being obvious to the public is a big plus point, helping foster relationships with the industry.

FHCL believes that the combination of cost-effectiveness, a service-oriented approach and the quality of their coffee itself makes a successful business formula. The concoction seems to have worked with more than 110 hotels in the country, including groups like the Oberoi, Hyatt, and ITC. Some hotels have even installed up to 10 FHCL brewing machines in their respective properties.