: How a Class 12 Dropout Brewed Up Success With 50 Franchise Outlets of His Chai Pop-Up Stall #IndiaNEWS #Small Businesses of India This article is part of The Better India’s series #EarnYourIndependence

Posted in: #IndiaNEWS #Small #EarnYourIndependence

How a Class 12 Dropout Brewed Up Success With 50 Franchise Outlets of His Chai Pop-Up Stall #IndiaNEWS #Small Businesses of India
This article is part of The Better India’s series #EarnYourIndependence through which we celebrate Indians achieving financial freedom in innovative ways.

To what extent would you go to grab a perfect cup of chai in the morning? Alappuzha native Faisal Yousaf started a business to ensure his.

He says that even while working in the food and beverages industry in England, what he craved the most was a good cup of Indian masala chai. As he had access to many products there, the tea enthusiast started experimenting and developing his own recipes. What began as a hobby ended up being stalls in the flea markets of England, which got rave reviews from different nationals.

Faisal, who always aspired to become an entrepreneur, soon realised that tea brewing is his forte. “I came back to my homeland in 2018. After all, this is the place where tea lovers are in abundance. By taking inspiration from different pop-up stalls I have seen in England, The Chai Wallah was started the same year to serve hygienic cups of freshly brewed artisan chai,�? says 36-year-old Faisal.

The pop-up stall of The Chai Wallah.

This was the humble beginning of a thriving business which is now under the parent company Nomadic Tastebuds Private Limited. “We now have more than 50 outlets majorly in Kerala and Karnataka. We are soon opening in Chennai, Hyderabad and Middle Eastern countries,�? he adds.

Newspaper boy turns businessperson

“I had no interest in studies,�? says the Class 12 dropout. “I lost my father at a young age and grew up in an orphanage in Alappuzha. �? Faisal however considers all these as experiences in life and believes there are bigger things to be learnt from life which can never find a place in a textbook.

After high school, he used to go for newspaper distribution around his locality. When his boss died unexpectedly, he took over the news agency and ran it for a few months. Since the scope of scalability was less, he then quit. After Class 12, Faisal took up a few marketing jobs and travelled to many places inside and outside the country. His trip to England was part it which became a turning point in his life.

“I worked in the food and beverages industry for about 10 years. The Chai Wallah is a product of my four years’ of research and experimenting. Some of my friends and family members said this was a bad idea as most of the places are filled with tea stalls. And what would I, a person who ‘doesn’t know how to brew tea’, do in this field? But I was confident and went ahead,�? reminisces Faisal.

Anything for that perfect cup of chai.

Each stall of The Chai Wallah sells at least 50 varieties of tea, coffee, juices and snacks.