India-based Coffee Day Enterprises (CDEL), the parent company of Café Coffee Day (CCD), has reduced its store count by 3% in the third quarter (Q3) of the financial year 2024/25 (FY25) as part of its ongoing efforts to manage debt.
At its peak in FY19, CCD operated 1,752 stores across India, the Financial Express has reported.
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As of Q3 FY25, the number has dropped to 439, down from 454 stores in the same period of the previous year.
The move is part of the company’s continued focus on cost control amid financial challenges.
CDEL reported total debt of Rs12.73bn ($146m) at the end of Q3 FY25, a slight improvement from Rs12.89bn at the end of Q4 FY24.
Since 2019, the group has reduced its debt burden by 82.35%, according to financial data.
While store closures have been a key part of CDEL’s debt management strategy, the company has also increased its vending machine operations.
The number of CCD vending machines grew by almost 6% year-on-year to 55,667 by the end of Q3 FY25.
This figure is just 5% below the company’s peak vending machine count of 58,697 in FY20.
Vending machines, which are primarily installed in offices, retail outlets, malls and multiplexes, require less maintenance and have fewer operational overheads than physical cafés.
The vending machine business previously attracted interest from Tata Consumer, which had considered acquiring CCD’s vending segment in 2020 but abandoned the plan due to valuation concerns.
Tata Consumer has since launched its own vending machine business, which it aims to expand to 4,000 machines by the end of FY25.
The latest development follows the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) overturning insolvency proceedings against the firm.
The NCLAT ruling nullified insolvency proceedings initiated by IDBI Trusteeship Services over a default of Rs2.28bn.
This is the second instance in which the company has received legal relief from lenders.
