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Success Story: Chai, for Indian is not just a regular beverage but an emotion. Our day is empty, dull and tiring without the “energy drink”. Sitting with your friends on a chai tapri, chit-chatting, and having heart-to-heart conversations while sipping tea are some of the best moments of our lives. Nothing can match the joy.
Chai business is also now on trend. Almost everyday we see a new chai wala in the news who is building a successful business. However, not everyone has the potential to grow and expand in PAN India level, as it requires a lot of dedication, taste stability and discipline.
But, a boy from Bihar who was studying in Shillong quit his well-paying job to launch the startup, called Chaai Seth. Arpit Raj with the help of his friends collectively invested 50,000-60,000 and started a small Tea tapri in Shillong, Meghalaya in 2015. “There was no brand name. It was just started,” he said. He was in the hilly state pursuing his BBA in Hospitality.
Speaking to Tribalbox.com, Arpit said that he and his friends would often roam the streets of Shillong looking for good food joints. However, studies coupled with a hectic curriculum meant the boys would only get free late into the night when the town was too dark to permit meanderings.
“We thought that if we had midnight cravings, there certainly must be others like us who would love to get food delivered,” Arpit told the publication, recounting the many stops along the way that led to him setting up the venture ‘Chaai Seth’ years later. It would go on to become one of the fastest-growing tea franchises in India.
So, in the hostel room where the boys lived, Arpit and his friends initially started a tiffin delivery service that was exclusively meant for those wanting to snack late at night. In his own college, he often noticed how people from different part of state craved for food from their own culture. This is when Arpit and his friends started looking to open a food stall outside the campus. Initially they would cook themselves and deliver it to the people.
Soon the boys moved to a flat, which meant they could hire a cook too to help them with orders. “I remember hiring a local Bengali woman who would prepare snacks, aloo parathas, gobi parathas, etc, and we’d get on our scooters to deliver these. Our promise was that we’d get the food to you within 30 minutes,” he told the Better India.
So, instead of striving for perfection in various cuisines, he decided to zero in on a food item that could bring people together no matter where they came from. And, tea was the answer!
The idea worked incredibly well. The climate of Shillong meant people flocked to the tapri ever so often, and soon, Arpit and his friends began to see returns.
Arpit has roots in Bihar and was in Shillong for 3 years where he started this concept. In the final year of his college, he got placed in Delhi and had to join the job in a food startup. Working there for 2 years, he realised to work on my own venture and to shape it in a bigger way by making a full-fledge Pvt Ltd company.
With the total investment starting from just 6-7 lacs, Arpit through his Chaai Seth franchise is offering 20+ varieties of tea and fast food menu! Recently, Chaai Seth has been nominated for the 500 startups award as well.
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