Indian on-the-go coffee chain abCoffee has appointed Rohit Tiwari, a former OYO executive, as President of Operations to lead its aggressive growth strategy.

In a press release, the Mumbai-based company emphasized Tiwari’s 15 years of experience in scaling hospitality and customer-focused businesses, which will be instrumental in driving its rapid expansion across India.

After starting his career at FMCG giant Unilever, Tiwari held several roles at New Delhi-based telecommunications firm Airtel, including as Senior Management of Distribution and Head of Customer Acquisition. He is credited with driving Airtel’s expansion to over 600,000 touchpoints where customers can access the provider’s services.  

“His (Tiwari’s) role at Airtel underscores his experience in establishing and managing extensive distribution networks – skills that align seamlessly with abCoffee’s growth strategy as it targets new markets and innovative customer engagement channels”, an abCoffee spokesperson said. 

More recently, Tiwari served as Director, Global PMO at OYO, an Indian hospitality group that leases and franchises hotels, homes, and living spaces, and Vice President of Business at e-learning platform PrepLadder. 

Founded in 2022, abCoffee has raised $5.4m over the last 12 months to accelerate outlet growth and currently operates 77 small-format stores across India, with a large presence in Mumbai and Bangalore.  

In June 2024, abCoffee CEO Abhijeet Anand stated that the compact coffee chain was responding to the growing consumer demand for on-the-go coffee in India and set an ambitious target of opening 10,000 stores nationwide over the next decade.