“No matter where you are in the world, you are at home when tea is served.” This popular quote by Earlene Grey encapsulates the homely feeling that one experiences when they take a sip of one of the most popular drinks in the world. A perfect cup of tea is something many wish to achieve. It all starts with water and tea leaves; however, each tea drinker has his or her own version of the perfect cup of tea. With time, several flavours have been introduced further elevating the humble cup of tea into a drink with numerous layers as well as textures.
Kolkata’s homegrown Cha-Khor co-founded by 2 brothers – Sandip and Sourav Joadder, Cha-Khor plans to open 100 outlets across Eastern and North Eastern India by 2025 through a mix of company-owned and franchise outlets. Speaking to eastindiaretail.com exclusively, Sandip Joadder, co-founder, Cha-Khor, narrates their journey and how do they propose to take it to the next level.
Sandip had started the venture in 2019 in a sudden plan after completing his masters in geography and B.Ed. That was really a very hard decision in his life to start selling chai. It was a self-made plan totally. He never had any experience of selling or making chai in front of the customer. They started with 5 varieties of chai. Subsequently, in 2020, his elder brother Sourav Joadder joined him as a co-founder of Cha-khor. And now both of them, as directors, are striving to take this fledgling brand to the next level.
They are different from other tea joints because they offer a wider range of variants and qualities of chai, representing Dooars and Darjeeling chai, along with Indian and continental snacks and their product prices are much more pocket-friendly as their main target of customer is youth.
They have lined up plans to have more than 15 outlets. As many as 10 outlets are already under way. At this point, their main goal is to cover the north-eastern market as soon as possible.
Supply chain, no doubt, is more crucial part for franchise business. At present, two outlets are company-owned and the rests are franchisee-owned. They need to make warehouses and other required infrastructure as soon as possible. At this point, they are not thinking of multiple kitchens. But going forward, they may look at warehouses, zone-wise, as they move along.
They certainly have plans to raise capital. Their growth and expansion plans are often retarded, due to lack of funds. They need to make their own packaged tea brand and aggressively focus on online and offline sales simultaneously. There are other plans as well and we need funds for that. They are already in talks with 2-3 traditional ventures and brands for funding. But they are not in talks with the VC funds yet.
Wanting to become the definitive exclusive chai shop of the eastern and north eastern region, they were also aggressive in their initial marketing strategy. They started with one small outlet. “Our initial growth was slow due to the scarcity of capital and also because we wanted to master our process.” However, with a focus on profitability, they managed to expand to ten outlets in present.
“One of the most important things we’ve learnt in all these years is that if the quality of the product is good, you’ll always have takers; so, our focus has been on providing the best quality product at affordable price,” Sandeep says.
After conquering the domestic market, Cha-Khor has its eye on the national market as well. Being a passionate tea lover, Sandeep is ready to take over the world, one teacup at a time.
