Chai Point, one of the biggest tea cafe chains in India, plans to increase its footprint in the country by doubling its stores over the next two years. The beverage brand will also expand its existing vending and packaged products business across the country.
The Bengaluru-based company, which runs 170 stores across 13 cities, is yet to re-open another 35 outlets after it shut down during pandemic resultant lockdown two years ago.
The Mountain Trail Foods Private Limited owned tea cafe chain plans to reach a door count of nearly 325 stores in the next two years as the government eases curbs on mobility, allowing offices to resume with 100 percent workforce.
Chai Point has seen an uptick in its business and is witnessing a slow but gradually increasing footfall back in the stores.
Amuleek Singh Bijral, Co-founder of Mountain Trail Foods which runs Chai Point said, ‘‘We are already at a pre-pandemic level in terms of sales and footfalls although we saw a slight dip during the recent Omicron wave. The packaged products business and the fresh food and beverage part of the business grew very well because of delivery. Right now, offline channels are also opening up not only facilitating higher levels of walk-ins but office space is also going to make a very strong resurgence.’’
Chai Point’s foray into a package-product portfolio comes at a time when the food and beverage service industry has been banking on home deliveries to recover the loss in business from low dine-in footfalls amid the pandemic.
The company runs nearly 4000 vends mainly for commercial properties. The vending business and consumer packaged goods will be a big focus for the company as its shifts on value-added products, health and convenience.