CCD’s founder V.G. Siddhartha’s mysterious death has signalled the end of an era. Cafe Coffee Day, the iconic coffee chain started by Siddhartha would especially be remembered by the 90s and 2000s youngsters who brewed their dreams chatting away with their friends and dear ones sprawled on the restaurant’s comfy seats.
The coffee chain is credited for bringing the trend of branded coffee shops to India. CCD left an indelible mark on the youngsters of the time who would head to CCD not just for a hot cuppa, but also to catch up with friends, or for a date. With time the craze of CCD might have faded with competition from other brands, but the coffee chain will always be remembered for bringing coffee in vogue amongst the youngsters when the only preferred hot beverage was tea at the time.
It all started as a single cafe in Bengaluru’s Brigade road on July 11, 1996, by V.G. Siddhartha. The tagline ‘A lot can happen over a cup of coffee’ instantly caught the fancy of youth. After widening its reach in India, over the time, the brand spread its wings overseas by setting up CCDs in Vienna, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Nepal and Egypt. It had total of 1,750 retail outlets in about 240 cities in India and across the globe.
V.G. Siddhartha took over the family business that roots almost a century back. His grandfather was invited by a British planter to grow coffee and that’s how it all started. Siddharth’s family sold coffee since 1870. They have an ancestral home at Gauthahalli which was more than 550 years old.
The ancestral property was later divided between Siddhartha’s father and uncle and his father bought 479 acres of land for about Rs 90,000. “That was the beginning,” Siddharth said in an interview with TOI, adding, “I kept buying coffee estates during downturns. By 1992, we had 2500 acres.” According to the report, they were India’s largest coffee exporters by 1995.
HOW THE END CAME
CCD’s founder V.G. Siddhartha went missing in Karnataka under mysterious conditions and his body was later been found in Karnataka’s Netravathi river by two fishermen at around 6:30 am on Wednesday. Two days prior to his disappearance, the coffee baron had left behind a note to his employees that revealed he was in deep debt. “I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts. I would like to say I gave it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure…,” his note read.
In a complaint to the police, his driver, who last saw him alive, said that Siddhartha asked him to wait in the car and went at the end of the bridge as he wanted to make some calls.