Chaayos was born in November 2012 to address the innate need of Indians for a hygienic, made-to-taste cup of chai outside one’s home. We played on a very simple insight—every individual in India likes their chai a particular way, meri wali chai, as we like to call it. Be it kadak adrak or paani kam elaichi without sugar, there was no one definition of a great chai.

A lot of people, back then, said that chai was already available for free in offices, and at ₹7-8 at the roadside tapris, so why would people ever want to spend money at a café on a cup of chai. Yet, our first few outlets proved that there did exist a very strong demand for chai cafés. Now, we have a variety of formats from malls and business parks to high streets, airports, metros and hospitals.

With a thriving customer base of chai lovers, we soon realized that while they may not be able to come to Chaayos cafés at all times of the day, they will still need their daily cup of meri wali chai. Hence, the idea of chai on demand was born.

At a time when home deliveries were becoming a challenge for most companies, and the idea of delivering hot beverages was met with scepticism, Chaayos decided to deliver piping hot beverages in innovatively designed kettles that kept the chai hot for up to 90 minutes.

The Chaayos patrons loved the idea of having the cup of Chaayos chai at home or office, and today, Chai on Demand contributes 20% to our overall revenues. We get 50% of delivery orders from homes and remaining from corporate offices, which is interesting given that our consumer want to have the Chaayos chai even at home.

Who would have thought that Chai will get delivered? But Chaayos converted that challenge into a reality through its innovation and streamlined operations.