Wine taverns pose threat to beer pubs in IT hub

The popular beer pubs, the essence of Brand Bangalore, is facing a threat from wine taverns which are expected to mushroom all over the city following the easing of license restriction by the Karnataka government.

The government has decided the allow opening of taverns that serve wine in glasses in its bid to popularise the drink and also help the grape growers. Now anyone can take a license to open a tavern by paying a fee of Rs 1,000.

This has led to a flood of applications with industry majors like Reliance and Future Group jumping into the bandwagon. The authorities had received more than 100 applications and all the taverns are expected to come up this year.

According KSN Raju, Managing Director of the city-based Nandi Valley Winery wine taverns will the big crowd pullers and pose a threat to the 300-odd pubs in the city.

Speaking to UNI, he said the wine makers target profile would be young educated people and the 'good for health' drink slogan. ''We are projecting wine as a healthy drink despite containing alcohol. we are targeting youth in the age group of 18 to 35 years and convert as many beer drinkers to take to wine drinking,'' he said.

The Reliance group have applied for 30 taverns while Future Group and Nandy Valley 14 each. Raising income relaxed government regulations and change in consumer attitude has resulted in Indian wine making quick progress in short time.

-- (UNI) -- 11MS13.xml

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