The Hindu BusinessLine | Shell Café debuts in India; opens sit-down restaurant in Bengaluru

Oil and gas giant Shell inaugurated the country’s first Shell Café, a global programme through which the company offers its own brand of fast food and coffee, at one of its retail stations in Bengaluru.

Istvan Kapitany, Global Executive Vice-President, Shell, told businessline, that a majority of these cafes have been set up in Europe and China and are now expanding into America and other parts of Asia. In fact, in India, more cafes will be set up in prime city locations along its forecourts and on highways.

“We are starting with our service stations as a first step and have made a sit-down restaurant to offer a different experience, while a customer waits. Moreover, in the case of e-mobility, since there is a wait time—the average charging time in our global network is around 20 minutes—one can make use of all these facilities,” he added.

According to Kapitany, the value proposition is centred around a seamless experience delivered through integrated services, including restrooms and parking facilities in highways, and it will also be a credible food partner with a safe and secure environment. Shell has five different operating models for its cafe, ranging from automatic coffee machines to small kiosks to a full-service sit-down café.

EV charging points

In accordance with its ambition to set up 10,000 charging points in the country by 2030, the company, recently formed a partnership with Table Space to establish an EV charging infrastructure powered by renewable energy.

Kapitany said, “Table Space will provide Shell with the space and electrical infrastructure for installing and enabling EV charging at premium locations operated by it.” These will include tech parks, business parks and reputed housing localities across six cities, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and the NCR.

“Our ambition is to operate more than 500,000 EV charging points by 2025 and 2.5 million points by 2030 across the world. We have a strategic commitment to develop our network around the world. Our approach to establishing the same is very customer-centric,” he said.

Globally, Shell operates 46,000 retail outlets across 80 countries, while in India, it has more than 350 retail outlets in eight States. The company recently announced adjusted earnings of $9.8 billion in the Q4 FY22.