This chaiwala from Indore is taking India’s most popular beverage overseas, has opened 180 outlets so far

With a consumption volume of approximately 1.1 billion kilograms during the financial year 2021, tea truly powers India. The tea-drinking culture has kept up with the changing times. Small shops and chai tapris—a Hindi word for small roadside tea stalls—have now begun making room for hip tea cafes.

A decade ago, the then 22-year-old entrepreneur Shashank Sharma noticed the shift in this tea-drinking trend and decided to open a tea café on the lines of a popular coffee café chain. 

“I was inspired by Cafe Coffee Day (CCD). People used to hop to CCD for business networking, dating, or anything. After completing my graduation, I was thinking of a business idea to start with and one day while I was discussing my plans with my friends at a corner chai tapri, and we were talking of CCD’s success, I realised, why can’t I open a tea cafe?” Shashank tells in an interaction with SMBStory.

In 2012, there was already a tea cafe brand established in the Indian market but that was operating out of a big city, says Shashank adding that he thought of bringing a tea cafe with a variety of offerings to his own city—Indore. 

But convincing his parents, who held government jobs, that he wanted to start a tea shop wasn’t a cakewalk. 

So how did Shashank build The Tea Factory which now operates through 180 outlets and has a global presence across UAE, Canada, the UK, Nepal, and Bangladesh? 

“Apne sapno ke peeche bhaagte” (through only chasing my dreams), Shashank answers SMBStory on the occasion of International Tea Day.

Making a global brand from a small town

Shashank had around Rs 6 lakhs in hand to start the business which he had borrowed from his parents. With the handful of money and no experience in the business industry, Shashank found that opening a tea cafe would help him succeed as it is a highly consumed beverage in the country and there has to be a space where people can comfortably sit to take a sip of this hit beverage at an affordable price. 

But he was worried as to why anyone would visit his cafe because he wasn’t offering anything extraordinary.

“I was not from Mumbai or Delhi where people would come to explore. I was from a small town where coming to a cafe to have tea would make people feel silly. So, the best way I found was to make the ambience so attractive and offer a menu range that people would visit at least for once to see what I am offering," he says.

To attract customers, Shashank, besides having an economical range of tea starting from Rs 20, also introduced a tea range that was priced at a whopping rate between Rs 250 and Rs 500.

“Mereko pata tha log pagal bolenge but bhale he faltu bolne ke liye ayein, par ayein zaroor (I knew with this menu range people would call me crazy but I didn’t worry about that because I wanted them to come),” Shashank tells SMBStory.

For Shashank that strategy worked out. Even with social media at the nascent stage then, word of mouth spread like wildfire and people started flocking to the cafe to see what unique tea The Tea Factory offered. 

“Initial few months were difficult but gradually things shaped up. For a beginner in business, I had to go through various challenges but with time, I learned many lessons and within a year, began expansion through the franchise model,” Shashank says. 

The Tea Factory had its first franchise outlet in Indore itself in 2014 and the following year, it stepped out of the state opening up another franchise in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. By 2017, The Tea Factory had come up with an outlet in Nepal which marked the beginning of the company’s expansion outside the country. 

The Tea Factory operates in a completely franchise-based model and has so far, opened 180 outlets and counting with presence in India, the UK, Canada, and UAE. Shashank claims that each outlet of The Tea Factory solds around 1.5 lakh cups per month. 

Leveraging tech to expand

With the increasing base of the franchise model covering almost every state in India, The Tea Factory is also supporting vendors across from where it sources bread, milk, buns, and other raw materials required for its cafe. 

The Tea Factory is in an expansion mode. Shashank says the focus is on its growth in Gujarat in India as well as countries such as the UK and the UAE. 

The Tea Factory is working towards building a centralised kitchen in Gujarat and also leveraging chef-less features to adhere to the same formulation being carried across The Tea Factory outlets.

“Though we have in-house trained chefs working across Tea Factory Outlets and have a network of around 800 chefs, we are trying to leverage tech to have ready mixtures for tea for similar taste across the world. This wouldn’t mean we would not need chefs but it's just to make the process seamless.”

Market scenario and the way forward

India is now the world’s tenth fastest-growing market for specialist coffee and tea retail chains being valued at Rs 2,570 crore in 2018, states a report by market researcher Euromonitor International.

India’s leading Tea cafes include Chai Point, Chaayos that run premium cafes. The Tea Factory says it competes with smaller players such as Chai Sutta Bar or MBA Chaiwalla. 

Shashank says that his journey has been organic where he credits word of mouth to be the reason for his prominence and expansion. Shashank says he is willing to join hands with people in India who want to set up a business but could not due to a lack of funds. He claims that his franchise model is appropriate for people with middle-income backgrounds and signs off the interview by saying, 

“Main middle class se hun aur middle class ke he sapne hote hain aur sabke sapne pure hone chahiye (I am from middle class and people from this background have dreams and those dreams need to be fulfilled.”

(This story's feature image was updated to correct a typo.)