Leisure

Toby's Estate opens in Colombo, a first in South Asia

Sara Pathirana

Toby's Estate Coffee launched its first South Asian part of its global chain in Colombo yesterday at Mount Lavinia. Having already spread out into three continents, Toby's estate fetches an exceptional experience for coffee lovers in Colombo with their wide selection of coffee, tea and chocolate.

Founder/CEO Toby Smith trying out an espresso	Master Roaster, Alvaro Sanchez. Pictures by Samantha Weerasiri

Founded by Toby Smith, Toby's Estate coffee serves coffee lovers around the globe, from Sydney and Melbourne to Singapore, Brooklyn (New York) and now in Colombo.

With this flagship store being established in Mt. Lavinia with the presence of Founder and CEO Toby Smith, Master Roaster Alvaro Sanchez and General Manager Asia Pacific Andrew Lowe, who are in the country for this initiation, this will be the first venture into South Asia, with the opening in Colombo.

Toby's Estate was first instigated in 1997. The brand focuses on quality and providing baristas with expert training and therefore, these main elements is based on their consistency. While the company was looking for opportunities, Colombo presented itself through Brads Foods, who manage the estate here, in Colombo. "Finding the right place at the right time were a criteria and by teaming up with the right partnership, is a core strategy for a business like this to move forward.

"Asia has unlimited opportunities and where partners are concerned, there should be a shared focus on high quality and providing the right entity to our customers," Founder /CEO, Toby Smith said Coffee has become the world's best selling non-alcoholic beverage and coffee drinking at cafes, shops, and lounges have become a sub-culture in everyday life of the urban culture in most developed countries and have also become a trend that is catching up fast in Sri Lanka.

"We opened our first roastery and coffee shop in Singapore in 1997 and ever since have ventured towards creating good quality Arabica coffee that is sourced from various countries around the world which includes Latin America, Kenya, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Panama. We perceive to look into opportunities that would present itself in the way of future expansions, whether it comes to obtaining good quality coffee or opening up new ventures," Master Roaster, Alvaro Sanchez said.

The entrance to the new venue at Mount Lavinia.

With the aim of attracting the residential demographic in the area of Mount Lavinia and also with the great propensity the vicinity had shown in attracting tourists, Brads Foods had approached Toby's Estate for this venture. "First, we have to strike the right market and infrastructure to propel further with a project like this. We also have on our radar countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and China who have also got impending prospects," Andrew Lowe explained.

Toby's Estate coffee promises to sustainably source their coffee direct from the farm and roast it with passion to achieve uncompromised quality and freshness. Toby's Estate will provide customers with a large range of specialty coffees and a complete menu of espresso-based beverages such as lattes, cappuccinos, smoothie chillers, cocoas and gourmet teas. "Quality is paramount when it comes to choosing the right ingredients for the right choice of coffee and it takes time to attain that perfection. We would also look into possibly sourcing quality coffee from Sri Lanka," Sanchez said.

"With the central hub in Singapore, we believe in building a business based on a strong foundation and we want to focus on making this establishment one of the best suppliers and makers of coffee in Colombo.

We would also like to venture into the coffee supplying business on a larger scale such as hotels.

That is a platform we would consider rolling into. With this new business introduction, we would want to assist by placing Sri Lanka on the map, where marketing of our brand is concerned as success of the brand is important for us to impel," Lowe added.

Etihad Airways to upgrade flights

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will increase capacity on its daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Melbourne, introducing a new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft from December 1.

James Hogan, President and CEO of Etihad Airways, and the Louise Asher MP, Victoria’s Minister for Tourism and Major Events and Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business.

The service upgrade was announced in Abu Dhabi by James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, at a business dinner. "Melbourne is one of the best-performing routes in our global network, and has the highest passenger load factor of our three Australian destinations," said Hogan.

"Victorians are not only flying with Etihad Airways to Abu Dhabi, an emerging business and leisure destination, but also on to destinations in the Gulf region, Middle East, Europe and Africa." Since launching flights between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi in March 2009, Etihad Airways has carried over 580,000 passengers on the route, including 162,112 last year. Already this year, a load factor of 87 per cent has been achieved, one of the highest in the airline's network of 86 destinations.

"Our decision to increase capacity between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi reflects not only the growth we have achieved so far, but also our confidence in the Victorian market," Hogan said.

"In addition to increasing the number of seats we offer to Melbourne, we also continue to invest in the city, having opened a line maintenance base at Melbourne Airport and secured high-profile sponsorships of Etihad Stadium and the Melbourne Recital Centre.

"The State Government of Victoria has been active in the UAE for over 15 years and our links with this key market across trade, investment and tourism continue to grow rapidly," Louise Asher MP, Victoria's Minister for Tourism and Major Events, and Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, said.