Amazing Success Story Of Chai Sutta Bar!

Anubhav Dubey, who was born into a family of entrepreneurs, opened a tea store in Indore at the age of 22 without the knowledge of his father, a real estate developer, and a friend, Anand Nayak. Five years later, the business has evolved into a 145-store tea chain with a turnover of Rs 100 crore, with locations in over 70 Indian cities and one each in Muscat and Dubai. Chai Sutta Bar founder Anubhav Dubey (centre) with Anand Nayak (far left) and Rahul, two additional company directors (Photos: Special Arrangement)

Five of the shops are owned by the firm, while the remaining 140 are held by franchisees. When Anubhav was a child, his family went through some difficult times, and some of those memories are still vivid in his mind. The family used to dwell in Rewa, a tiny town about 670 kilometres from Indore with a population of about 3 lakh people.

He attended Maharishi Vidya Mandir, a local school, until Class eight. "We were a lower middle-class family, and I remember wearing old, ripped shoes to school because we couldn't afford new ones," Anubhav recalls from his boyhood days in Rewa. His father's inventiveness matched his mother's jugaad when it came to operating the family on a shoestring budget. Anubhav abandoned his plans to join the civil service in order to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams.

His father's financial situation had improved by that time, and he was able to enrol his son at Columbia Convent in Indore and pay his hostel costs as well. It took him some time to acclimate to his new surroundings at first. Indore was a significantly larger city than Rewa, where he grew up. He felt out of place because the students at the school spoke fluent English. But he immediately gained confidence and made friends. Anand Nayak, whom he met in Class 11, became his best friend and business partner even while he was still in school.

Both were ordinary students who were street smart and looked for money-making chances. It was around this time when touch screen phones were just becoming popular, and the two bought a used Samsung smartphone for Rs 6,000.

In 2014, the two received their bachelor's degrees in commerce from Indore's Renaissance College of Commerce and Management. They continued to trade in secondhand phones on the side while in college to supplement their income and cover personal needs.

The pals drifted apart after college. Anubhav moved to Delhi to study for the Civil Services test and enrolled at Karol Bagh's Vajiram and Ravi coaching facility to fulfil his father's ambition of seeing him as an IAS officer. Anand went to his brother-in-textile law's factory to assist him.

They had been apart for nearly two years when Anand contacted Anubhav one day in 2016 to tell him that things were not going well and that they needed to think of something they could do together. To be with his friend, Anubhav boarded the first train out of Delhi bound for Indore. They sat down and talked about their future plans, deciding that, as they had promised each other previously, they would start a business.

After much deliberation, Anubhav and Anand decided to open a tea business on Bhanwar Kuwa Street, directly across from a ladies' hostel. Manoj, their first employee, was poached from a nearby dental office. They offered him twice his income if he agreed to wait until business started up before getting paid.

They switched from paper cups to kulhad (earthen pots) and offered seven different types of chai, including a chocolate chai that was a hit with the kids, rose chai, masala, ginger, cardamom chai, and a unique paan chai. The chai and other products they serve, such as maggi, sandwiches, and pizzas, cost between Rs 10 and Rs 200.

Anubhav believes the food and beverage business will recover after the pandemic. Chai Sutta Bar, a private limited company, has rapidly expanded by opening franchise stores since 2016. For a single store, they ask Rs 6 lakh as a franchise fee.