RIP Siddhartha: Some CCD outlets stay shut in founder's honour

RIP Siddhartha: Some CCD outlets stay shut in founder's honour

Cafe Coffee Day. (File Photo: IANS)

Bengaluru, July 31 (IANS) Some outlets of the popular Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) chain in central Bengaluru remained shut on Wednesday as a mark of respect to its founder-chairman V.G. Siddhartha, who died under mysterious circumstances, a company source said.

"Retail outlets in the city centre, including our main coffee 'the square' opposite the famous Cubbon Park are closed for the day as a homage to our founder-chairman along with our main office above the cafe," a CCD source clarified to IANS here.

While in Mumbai, company officials confirmed that all 50 Cafe Coffee Day outlets were functioning as normal. And they said the outlets will remain open during their regular hours till 11 p.m.

Earlier in the day, the source had told IANS that all the CCD outlets across the country would remain shut as a mark of respect to Siddhartha.

"CCD offices, including that of Coffee Global Enterprises and the Amalgamated Bean Coffee (ABC), have also been shut across the country," the source said on the condition of anonymity.

"A holiday has also been declared for the workers and employees of all coffee estates in the three coffee districts of Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodugu in the southern state due to the sudden death of coffee king Siddhartha," added the source.

In Kerala there are 25 outlets -- six in Thiruvananthapuram, 14 in Kochi, and five in Kozhikode. We have been asked to go on with the business and hence we abided by that," said the CCD staff, who did not wish to be identified.

Abey Tellas, a professor at a leading college sipping his coffee at a outlet in Thiruvananthapuram, told IANS: "I was a bit surprised to see this outlet open. When I entered, it was business as usual. I thought about the founder of CCD, that it's a bit sad, he is no more."

Meanwhile, the board of Coffee Day Enterprises appointed S.V. Ranganath as its interim chairman, after the police in Mangaluru earlier recovered the body of its founding Chairman V.G. Siddhartha almost 36 hours after he went missing.

The board also decided to appoint Nitin Bagmane as the interim Chief Operating Officer (COO), a company statement said.

--IANS

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