CHIKKAMAGALURU: For thousands of employees working for Cafe Coffee Day in Chikkamagaluru, Tuesday's news of VG Siddhartha going missing came as a rude shock.
Siddhartha, though a native of Cheekanahalli estate in Belur taluk on the border of Chikkamagaluru district, is very much associated with Chikkamagaluru because it is here that he began his experimental laboratory for promoting coffee in the domestic market. Amalgamated Beans Coffee (ABC), which started in 1994, is situated on the Kadur-Mangaluru road where research on coffee, marketing and other transactions are held.
He opened his first CCD in Bengaluru at the cost of Rs 1.5 crore and then expanded his marketing business by setting up more than 1,750 shops across the country and abroad.
The son of a coffee grower Gangaiah Hegade, he ruled the coffee empire for over two decades.
He studied MA in Economics from Mangaluru and moved to Mumbai to have more knowledge in business affairs when he was just 22. After two years, he returned to Bengaluru to make his dream true. With Rs 5 lakh that he got from his father, he bought 3 acres of land with Rs 3 lakhs and with the rest, he invested in shares which fetched a large sum of monetary benefits.
Today, he owns thousands of acres of coffee plantations in Chikkamagaluru and Hassan. Kudregundi estate in Mudigere, Lal Bagh estate near Kemmannugundi, and another estate near Balehonnur are a few of them.
He provided jobs to thousands of people in his retail coffee brand outlets, coffee estates, coffee Day Global Ltd on the Belur-Hassan Road, and ABC company. Apart from this, he started Amber Valley international school near Mugthihalli, Serai hotel of international standards near Mattavara, Coffee curing in Kadrimidri.
One coffee grower Stanley D'souza recalled how he helped those in need and never gave less than a lakh to whoever came seeking help. Every year, he would sponsor a motor car rally and bike rally in the rugged roads of his and other coffee plantations.
Now with the news of him going missing, a pall of gloom has descended on ABC, Serai, and Amber valley. Javed Parvez, senior general manager of Coffee Day Global Ltd, who is shocked with the news, prayed for his safe return. The employees are also praying for him.