Q1. Can we start with an overview of your group; and what inspired you to start Tea Trails?
Tea Trails is a venture of Zone8 Tea World Pvt. Ltd., Promoted by a group of entrepreneurs with track records in building successful business in the past. For us it all started almost 5 years back when our passion for tea, inspired us to build a business concept around tea as a beverage. The tea market is growing rapidly in the western world and drinking habits and lifestyles are changing; with youngsters who associate tea with health benefits driving this trend.
India is the second largest tea consuming market in the world but the Tea Café market is practically non- existent. Tea Trails aspires to cater to this latent demand and be the category creator. The Indian tea industry and the beverage café market are currently valued at Rs 19,500 Cr and Rs 1800 Cr respectively. Tea Trails operates in this space and has a first mover advantage.
Q2. What has been the most difficult aspect of getting your brand off the ground and how did you overcome that?
We wanted to provide a world class gourmet tea experience to our customers and help them to rediscover the art of tea. Identifying the right type of teas from around the world that suits the Indian palate has been a major challenge in front of us. Our Tea guru & Co founder, Mrs. Kavita Mathur had extensively travelled across the globe to taste more than 200 varieties of teas and hand-picked around 100 that suits Indian Palate.
Post 2 years of rigorous R&D, our concept turned into reality when our first Tea Trails Café started operations at Viviana Mall, Thane, Maharashtra in December 2013.
Q3. What is the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of the brand? How is your brand different from your competitors?
We offer more than 80 varieties of finest whole leaves teas from across the Globe; ranging from hot to cold and every-day to extravagant. Our TEAS menu constitutes a carefully curated mix of Blacks, Greens, Whites, Oolongs, Herbals& Coolers and also flaunts our perfected varieties of 12 Desi Chais. We believe in serving our teas as whole leaves and not to restrict their flourishing in a tea bag.
Food items in our EATS menu, which are served fresh, complement our Teas to justify the pairing concept world over. We also use tea as an ingredient while preparing few of our signature dishes in our menu, making Tea Trails, perhaps one of its kind place where you can eat tea !
Q4. when did you decided to go for franchising & why?
As the founders come from a rich background of building successful business based on franchising, the strategy was always to build this business based on franchising network. Our strategies and business models always had franchising in mind.
Q5. How many outlets do you have at the moment?
Tea Trails looks to expand its network with over 500 outlets within the next 5 years.
Tea Trails has embarked on an interesting journey of changing the rules of the game in the Café space. Tea Trails currently operates 26 successful outlets across 7 cities and have perfected the business model. The brand has now embarked on a pan India expansion strategy that is a combination of company owned and franchised outlets. In the current year the brand plans to open 90 outlets across the country. In the initial phase, the focus markets are Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Chennai& Ahmedabad.
Q6. What kind of backend and frontend support you would provide to your franchisees?Tea Trails does franchising in two levels. A territory level Master Franchise & outlet level sub franchise. We started franchising after 2 years of operations and perfected the business model. Parent company will support the franchisees in both operations and sales & marketing side. On a broad level, the benefits franchisees will receive are,
• A long term & fruitful partnership built on trust & transparency.
• The excitement of offering new variations coupled with meeting the business aspiration.
• 5 years agreement.
• Low royalty.
• Marketing Support.
• Easier procurement of international tea variants.
• Ambience set up, equipments
• Staff recruitment & training
• Easier process to management staff.
• Constant upgradation of offerings to the end user.
Q7. How do you see the future of the industry you are in and what are your future strategies?
India is the second largest tea consuming market in the world but the Tea Café market is practically non- existent. Tea Trails aspires to cater to this latent demand and be the category creator. The Indian tea industry and the beverage café market are currently valued at Rs 19,500 Cr and Rs 1800 Cr respectively.
Café industry which is currently valued at 1800Cr has around 3200 branded cafes across India. These numbers are expected to double by 2020 and this category is expected to contribute to this growth significantly. Tea Trails operates in this space and has a first mover advantage.
Q8. Please share the franchise facts of Shree with us.
• Total Investment:25-45 Lakhs
• Franchise fees:6-9 Lakhs
• Area Required: 800-1200 sq.ft
• Royalty: 12-15%
• Margin:70% gross margin
• Payback period:28 months
Q9.What are the factors that pull you back while expanding your business?
All businesses have its own challenges. The retail F&B business faces stiff challenge from the real estate segment. Availability of good retail space and high rentals though become challenges, we have identified different methods to address such issues over a period of time. Our network of real estate agents across India and our lucrative real estate deals helps us to negotiate these challenges better.