Chaayos scouting for partner to expand its offline presence

Chaayos, the Delhi-based café chain startup, is looking for suitable partners in a bid to double its store count in the next six months. The Tiger Global Management-backed homegrown tea cafe chain is currently present in 37 stores across NCR, Chandigarh and Mumbai, and with 80% of its revenues coming from offline stores, the expansion is expected to help the startup effectively compete against chains such as Café Coffee Day and Starbucks. Nitin Saluja, Founder of Chaayos, said that “20 stores are currently in the fit-out stage. By March 2018 we should be able to take our tally to 70-75 stores, including opening ~20-25 stores in Mumbai alone”.

The aggressive expansion will lead to significant capital outflow, and to keep it to a minimum, the company is looking for partners. The startup is looking to partner with property owners to lease the store space along with the fittings in a bid to bring its capital requirement down to zero. Saluja further added that “The idea is that we don’t have to dilute our equity every time we open a store. This model makes us asset light and that is what we are now gunning for”. Besides CCD and Starbucks, the café chain is also competing against Bangalore-based Chai Point and Mumbai-based Tea Trails.