The Goa market is unique in the sense the economy of the State is dominated by tourism. There are visitors from all over the country as well as around the world making it a market much aspired to by companies across categories. The beer market is very competitive and the recent launch of Simba Beer adds more fizz to it. AJIT JOHN spoke to Prabhtej Singh Bhatia, owner of Simba Beer about his plans for the Goa and India market.
HERALD: What has been the initial reaction to the launch of these new beers from the Goa market?
PRABHTEJ SINGH BHATIA: We’ve had a great launch in Goa. Everyone loves the two beers we’ve launched – the Simba Jungle Wheat and Simba Jungle Stout. While we are available at more than 200 places across Goa, we’ve also been a part of some big events in the last couple of months – IFFI, India Bike Week, Beer Circus etc… This has allowed us to talk to beer lovers and see them try our beers for the first time. We’re very excited and slightly overwhelmed by how well the beers have been received.
HERALD: You have launched a stout beer which is an acquired taste, how open is this market to such niche products?
PSB: You’re right, the stout beer is a slightly niche product, at least in India. But a lot of people in our team are stout lovers, so we chose it as one of our first beers. And it has done really well in Goa. In fact, for a very short period, we ran out of the Jungle Stout in Goa – we quickly replenished stocks, of course.
HERALD: What is your expectation from the Goa market?
PSB: We love Goa. That is why we chose to launch here before any other market. As our first market, Goa will always have a special place in our hearts. We also have a special connection to Goa that most people don’t know about. The entire Simba brand, packaging and design were conceptualised and created by a Goa-based design studio.
HERALD: Do you intend to launch the Jungle Wheat and Jungle Stout in other markets soon?
PSB: Yes, absolutely. We’ll be launching in Delhi / NCR very soon. This will be followed by Mumbai / Maharashtra and then Bangalore.
HERALD: What are the characteristics of the domestic beer market?
PSB: The beer market in India has huge potential. The per capita beer consumption in India is one of the lowest. And even within this, the share of craft beers is pretty low. We see the craft beer market growing very fast over the next couple of years.
HERALD: Are there any interesting trends in the beer market in Goa in terms of taste and consumption patterns?
PSB: Goa is an interesting market because of its composition. There are the people of Goa and then there are people who come to Goa. The people of Goa have a certain consumption pattern in terms of where they hang out, how they consume beer etc… And the people who come to Goa as travellers, have a completely different consumption pattern. This makes the market very dynamic and exciting.
HERALD: What future plans do you have for the Goa market and the Indian market?
PSB: From the day we started working on creating Simba, we were clear that we want to focus on the craft of making good beer, not on market share, not on expanding very quickly, not on launching too many products to soon. The joy of brewing good beer is why we do what we do. Having said that, we have some exciting beer ideas on the drawing board right now – we are experimenting right now and will have some announcements in the next couple of months.
