Thiruvananthapuram: The sudden death of V G Siddhartha, founder of Café Coffee Day, in 2019 sent shockwaves across India’s business and coffee culture alike. Siddhartha, often regarded as India’s answer to Starbucks, had built one of the country’s most recognisable coffee chains and was a pioneering investor in Infosys. Through scrupulous reporting and extensive research, business journalists Rukmini Rao and Prosenjit Datta explore these events in their book 'Coffee King: The Swift Rise and Sudden Death of Café Coffee Day Founder V G Siddhartha', tracing how Siddhartha’s mega-enterprise began its inexorable descent and posing essential questions about the cost of ambition and the perils of relentless growth.

Speaking at the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL 2026), Rao and Datta, in a session moderated by Ananya G, discussed the challenges of chronicling Siddhartha’s story. Datta recalled, “We were in an edit meeting in Delhi when Rukmini suddenly called from Bangalore. She said Siddhartha had gone missing. There were rumours he had fled or committed suicide. It created an immediate buzz because he was successful, stable, not flamboyant like Vijay Mallya—just a low-key man who built a thriving business.”

Rao added, “I was an 80s kid in Bangalore. I saw the entire café culture emerge. Café Coffee Day wasn’t just a coffee chain—it was where a generation hung out. Capturing that cultural footprint, alongside Siddhartha’s financial journey, was deeply personal and professional.”

The book examines the complex interplay of ambition, business decisions, and external pressures that led to the company’s troubles. Datta noted, “He overextended into logistics, IT, furniture, and resorts. The café business was the most visible part, but the empire had many moving parts. Acquisitions were made without clear integration plans, stretching the business across sectors where execution needed political and logistical support.”

Rao emphasised the painstaking research behind their work: “We went through nearly 9,000 documents across seven companies, from incorporation filings in the 1980s to board reports, MCA filings, and annual reports. Our goal was to present an objective business case study—evaluating his decisions, not his personality.”

The book also highlights the human side of Siddhartha’s story. Datta observed, “People who were close to him when he was alive often withdrew after his death. It showed how fragile relationships built on business and fame can be. We spoke to former colleagues, investors, and people from his home region to understand his life beyond the public persona.”

Both authors reflected on the process of co-authoring the book. Rao said, “My strength was getting people to talk, even those initially reluctant. Prosenjit brought clarity on financial aspects, stock markets, and investments. Together, we could weave a narrative that balanced cultural impact with business analysis.”

The decline of Café Coffee Day following Siddhartha’s death remains stark. From roughly 1,700 cafes at the time of his passing, the number has dropped significantly under the current management. Rao explained, “The brand continues as a coffee business, but much of the group’s other ventures have been scaled down. Legal troubles, the need to clean up subsidiary books, and the absence of external funding have slowed any major revival.”

Datta summed up the book’s approach: “We don’t judge Siddhartha’s choices morally. We analyse them as business decisions. He was ambitious, he took risks, and some failed. That is the lesson for any entrepreneur: growth and ambition have costs, and even a visionary can face collapse if execution falters.”

'Coffee King' is thus not only a chronicle of Siddhartha’s life and death but also a study of ambition, enterprise, and the fragility of success in India’s fast-changing corporate landscape.