TEA Trails, the first chain of tea cafes in the country that offers a curated range of gourmet teas from around the world, plans to raise $2 million to expand across the country with over 500 outlets in the next five years.
The café chain specialises in elaborately tea-infused food menu. The signature tea infused dishes include the Burmese Tea Salad, Tea Marbled Eggs, Tea Infused Thai Bowl among others. They serve gourmet teas from around the world and have an exquisite range of teas from hot to cold and normal to extravagant.
“The large part of the expansion strategy is based on franchise network development. This business model is asset light with high return on investment. Tea Trails is in the process of raising an investment of $2 Million to support this plan,” Uday Mathur, co-founder, Tea Trails told Financial Chronicle.
Tea Trails also plans to sell select blends of teas that would be available at premium retail stores and niche online portals, apart from the Tea Trails outlets.
Tea Trails offers almost 80 varieties of teas with various blends. The offerings range from white tea, green tea, oolong, herbal and black tea. Tea Trails also offers bubble teas, like the Taiwanese bubble tea and the tapioca bubble variant.
Tea Trail is promoted by a group of entrepreneurs. Tea Trails currently operates six outlets in Mumbai. 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 45 outlets across the country. In the initial phase, the focus markets are Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR and Ahmedabad. Kavita Mathur, Co-owner and Tea Sommelier says, “Brewing tea is an ancient art which is seldom paid attention to. We understand the importance of brewing and steeping high quality loose leaf teas to perfection, without which, the experience of drinking tea cannot be enjoyed to its fullest. Tea Trails looks to expand its network with over 500 outlets within the next
five years.”
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.