The owners of Bira 91 announce an aggressive roll-out of new venues across the country

BTB Marketing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian brewing group B9 Beverages, has announced plans to open 25 new beer-centric outlets across The Beer Cafe and Bira 91 Taproom brands, aiming for revenues of about US$23 million by the end of financial year 2026. The expansion targets rising consumer demand in markets such as Mysuru, Mangaluru, Thane, Nashik, and parts of Madhya Pradesh.

This initiative builds on The Beer Cafe’s current network of 51 outlets comprising 40 company-owned sites and 11 franchises. Although the chain was forced to shut over 15 stores during the pandemic. It is now projecting healthy revenues of US$14.35 million by the end of financial year 2025. The Beer Cafe provides both bottled and fresh beer, along with food options.

The Bira 91 Taproom network has also grown, from two locations in 2021 to 10 in seven cities, and offers in-house brewed beer and other alcoholic beverages.

India’s robust beer market has expanded by 6.5% in 2023 to more than 31 million hectolitres, or 400 million cases, according to data from the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies. Forecasts are also rosy, pointing to as much as 11% compound annual growth rate over the current decade, with up to 400 million beer consumers by 2030.

Restrictions introduced on off-premise retail have also helped accelerate growth; encouraging more drinkers towards on-premise outlets, benefiting operators such as The Beer Cafe and Bira Taproom.