How Kolkata's Cha-Khor cashing in on a rising surge in tea drinkers

Who doesn't want to sip chai with their mates, vibing with the playlist, and talk their heart out? And more so, if it comes with pocket-friendly price ranges and lip-smacking flavours? And that's exactly, Cha-Khor, Bengal's youngest iconic chai chain brand with over 50 beverage items for you to taste, is trying to cash in on. Mind you that from intellectual debates to friendly hangouts or even a date or meet-up with loved ones, a cup of tea goes with everything, especially when in Bengal. Co-founded by two brothers- Sandip and Sourav Joadder, Cha-Khor is a unique tea shop cum cafeteria which offers a new take on traditional tea, the 'fusion tea', which is a mix between good old tea and modern flavours like chocolate, blueberry, etc.

Kolkata's homegrown Cha-Khor will begin its pan India journey in 2023 and by 2024 it plans to throw open 100-odd outlets across the country through a mix of company-owned and franchise outlets. Speaking to Bizz Buzz exclusively, Sandip Joadder, co-founder, Cha-Khor, narrates their two year journey and how do they propose to take it to the next level.

Quite interestingly, you started Cha-Khor when the mighty CCD chain was almost collapsing. So where did you get the courage and strength to flag off your tea chain, which is your maiden entrepreneurial venture?

I had started the venture on May 7, 2019 in a sudden plan after completing my masters in geography and B.Ed. That was really a very hard decision in my life to start selling chai. That time, family didn't know about it. It was one of my hardest decision ever in my life. It was a self made plan totally. And right from the word 'go', I decided to move ahead on the basis of experiment totally. We never had any experience of selling or making chai in front of the customer. We started with 5 varieties of chai. Subsequently, in 2020, my elder brother Sourav Joadder joined me as a co-founder of Cha-khor. And now both of us, as directors, are striving to take this fledgling brand to the next level.

Your model is different from the plush and swanky cafes and tea -joints, right? What exactly is your model and in what way are they different?

Yes, we are different from other tea joints because we offer a wider range of variants and qualities of chai, representing Dooars and Darjeeling chai, along with Indian and continental snacks. And our product prices are much more pocket-friendly. Our main target of customer is youth.

Did you do any market study on whether tea joins are overpowering the erstwhile cafes and coffee chains?

No. Honestly, we did not do any such market study or analysis or came up with any market strategy at that time, simply because we did not have any experience whatsoever at that point of time. But we certainly studied and followed models of others, who had started tea venture in the Indian market like Chayos, Chai Point, Chai Sutta Bar, MBA Chaiwala, Chai Thela and so on. I have no hesitation in admitting that I got lots of courage and inspiration from each one of them.

How many varieties of tea do you serve? What kind of snacks do you serve? Are you planning to introduce more snacks?

We had started with five variants of chai and now we already offer nearly 50 variants of chai, as per demand. We also serve lots of beverage items like cold coffee, milk shakes, mojito, cooler and snacks like sandwich, burger, Maggie, pasta, and lots of fry items like French fries, alu tikki, chicken finger, sausage, cutlet, nuggets etc. And we are planning to add more items of continental, Chinese and Indian food items in the days to come.

You are growing at a pretty rapid pace, it seems. How many outlets do you have at this point and in how many months have you arrived at this number? What is the number of outlets that you are looking at in this year and over the next one year?

Yes, there is a speed and we are growing a little fast. We have lined up plans to have more than 15 outlets. As many as 10 outlets are already under way. We are planning over 50 outlets in the coming year, and more than 100 outlets by 2024. And at this point, our main goal is to cover the north-eastern market as soon as possible.

When do you plan to go pan India, or at least beyond Bengal?

We are already planning to cover entire West Bengal in the next two years. We will start going pan India from 2023.

Would all your outlets be company owned or are you open to franchise model as well?

At present, two outlets are company-owned and the rests are franchisee-owned.

The way you are growing, your supply chain management is going to be crucial. Isn't it? What is the plan like on this front? Are you looking at setting up multiple base kitchens at different locations?

Yes, this is a challenging phase for us. Supply chain, no doubt, is more crucial part for franchise business. We need to make warehouses and other required infrastructure as soon as possible. At this point, we are not thinking of multiple kitchens. It is not in our planning. But going forward, we may look at warehouses, zone-wise, as we move along.

Do you have any funds raising plans to back up your expansion ambitions? If so, how much? Are you in talks with any VC or angel investor?

Yes, we certainly have plans to raise capital. Our growth and expansion plans are often retarded, thanks to lack of funds. We know that we have lots of potential to grab the Indian market. We are looking at raising Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore, to start with. We need to make our 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. We are already in talks with 2-3 traditional ventures and brands for funding. But we are not in talks with the VC funds yet.

What are your plans to tap tier-II, tier-III towns and even beyond?

Yes, our first vision is to grab tier-ii and tier-iii cities as soon as possible. Then we will be entering into tier-I cities. It's our marketing strategy, you can say. There is enormous scope in those smaller cities and towns and consumer demand is growing so fast there.