MUMBAI: After two established venues in the US, and six more in progress, Classic Rock Coffee Co. (CRCC), the high end classic rock music themed coffee shop, will be brought to India on Saturday, 16 May in Pune. For its Indian launch, Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal will perform alongside Blackstratblues front-man Warren Mendonsa.

Speaking about bringing the brand to India, Classic Rock Coffee Co. (India), Master Franchisee, Avinash Agarwal told Radioandmusic.com that after venturing into the F&B business, through his own company 'FoodJockeys', he was looking at bringing American F&B franchises to India. "During that time, I came across Classic Rock Coffee Co., and found out that they were looking at opening various CRCC franchises around the world. I wrote to them and after various evaluations, background checks and finance checks, we became the Master Franchisee of Classic Rock Coffee Co. here in India," said Agarwal. He further added that conversations started with CRCC Director of Franchise Operations – Brett Payne in November 2013.

CRCC (India) is situated in Kalyani Nagar, Pune, with a seating capacity of 200 people and total capacity of 400. The place also has attached parking, which can accommodate up to 400 automobiles. The live venue currently has a team of 80 people, with 20 handling the kitchen. As a first for the brand - Classic Rock Coffee Co. Pune, will serve alcohol alongside freshly brewed coffee. For its alcohol availability, Agarwal stated that CRCC India has partnered with four microbreweries between Mumbai and Pune. He also said that along with creating a healthy and encouraging space for rising independent artists in city, providing good food will also be one of the primary focuses in the next few months. He further added that since the live element is such an integral part of CRCC, there would be two to three live music gigs in a week, other days would have stand-up comedy, karaoke etc.

Agarwal further added that since FoodJockeys is the Master Franchisee of the brand, he plans to open various CRCCs across the country, including cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. On the business models used for expansion, Agarwal earlier stated, "For the initial roll-out, COCO (company-owned company operated) is the most suitable model since we can control all the areas of the brand. After the flagship store is running, the FOCO (franchise-owned company-operated) and FOFO (franchise-owned franchise operated) models will be the best business model." He added that bringing the CRCC franchise to India was a multi-crore investment as the expenditure included setting up the venue in Kalyani Nagar, advance franchise fee, master franchisee fee and large sums of funds presented to CRCC upfront in return for holding the franchise rights in India.

For its launch, Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron Thal is scheduled to perform alongside Blackstratblues front-man Warren Mendonza. Agarwal first met Thal when he performed at the launch of CRCC in Dubai recently. He wanted to launch CRCC in Pune a couple of months ago, but Thal's availability dates were unfavourable. Ergo, after regular emails since February, it was decided that 16 May was the best time to launch Classic Rock Coffee Co. in India.