Italian coffee chain Lavazza is set to return to India through a franchise deal with Culinary Brands Pvt Ltd, a hospitality company backed by private equity firm Everstone Capital, executives directly aware of the development said.

The deal is being structured to include Lavazza’s coffee vending machine business Fresh & Honest to begin with, and subsequently evolve to Culinary Brands setting up cafes under the Lavazza brand in India, they said.

Independent directors on the board of Culinary Brands include Jaspal Sabharwal, former partner at Everstone Capital, and food columnist and journalist Vir Sanghvi, according to information on the website of the corporate affairs ministry.

The cafe business is showing high traction in the country amid a resurgence of dining-in as consumers return to malls and entertainment complexes, with newer entrants like Reliance-backed Pret a Manger, McDonald’s-owned McCafe and Canadian brand Tim Hortons setting up stores.

India is among the world’s fastest growing markets for cafe retail chains and is expected to be a Rs 4,500-crore market by 2023, research firm Euromonitor said in a report. The category is led by Tata Group-operated Starbucks, the homegrown Cafe Coffee Day, Barista, and Costa Coffee operated by Devyani International.

The Italian Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. group had exited the cafe market in India in 2014 by selling off its stake in Barista Coffee to local company Carnation Hospitality. Since then, Lavazza has focused only on its Fresh & Honest coffee brewing machine business.

Everstone’s existing consumer facing portfolio in India includes operating American sandwich chain Subway and quick service brand Burger King. “Since Everstone already operates BK Coffee under the Burger King franchise in India, there will be potential synergies with selling Lavazza coffee at these outlets,” one of the executives mentioned above said.

Dev Amritesh, head of Culinary Group, did not respond to queries on the development. Queries sent to Lavazza and Everstone remained unanswered till press time on Monday.

Everstone invests extensively in the food services space. Apart from being the master franchisee of Burger King in India, the private equity company also partnered with Subway late last year for a master franchise agreement, for setting up outlets in India for the sandwiches, wraps and salads chain.

Lavazza’s coffee business in India also includes operating three training centres, which train baristas, or specialist coffee makers, caterers and sales force teams. Worldwide, there are over 50 such training centres.