The idea and the name 24th Dec 2009
It was a starry December night in the last week of the year 2009 when my roomate and me, over an Old Monk session, thought of taking up a creative entrepreneural pursuit. We started Chaipatty as an exclusive Activity Hub after blending Chowpaaty/Chowpaatti(known for its warmth and approachability) & Chaipatti(for the first freshest thing one gets in the day). Yes, you would ask - Why not Chaipatti itself? And we would say that our Panditji approved the "Y" numerologically and so did our southern copyright consultants obsessed with "Hs" and "Ys".
What did we do to begin with?? 11th Feb 2010
We started off with a Salsa & Photography batch at home, which being a duplex, also worked well as a studio. We soon got our very first corporate batch and Salsa classes became more regular with 2 batches going strong. Partnerships were a failed experience for me and I decided to go solo. Being a great multi-tasker and part-perfectionist, I soon started getting my way with things. We sweetly partnered with Canon and did a round of photography workshops. We added bartending, film-making and even unheard of workshops like those on DJing, Tarot Reading and Tea-making to our repetoire.
Somewhere on the side came a surprise!! 21st Oct 2010
We had also forayed into Social media marketing and creative marketing on a parallel front under Projexionz and got leads for brand engagements using activities as a medium. We worked with Forum, The Verandah, Mother Earth and Puma. When Body & Soul asked us if we could do something unique at their Indiranagar centre for their launch, it just so happened that we for the first time set our eyes upon the open Verandah space which just wowed us. We started small with floor mats, muddas, home made snacks like maggi, pakodas and kullad chai and soon had all bachelor-pad food cravings rolled into one place. The only customer complaint we were faced with was 'When are you introducing "Daaru" (Alcohol)??'
How we related to our audience and their take on us!! 27th Dec 2010
Our attempt was to slowly add a few small eats and mid sized meals to our menu, keeping the otherwise "Chatorapan" nature of The Indian Taste Buds intact. We were an instant hit with the youngsters and soon found them coming over with not just their friends, but also their family and colleagues from work - giving our cute little Teafe a "Come one, Come All" look. Even travellers would have us on their agenda and not leave without sweetly complimenting on our honest creative efforts.
A backup scenario but worked out as d classiest of them all:
Chaipatty Whitefield
26th Nov 2011
Our projections from Koramangala were turning out to be a little slow paced, and we felt it was time to have a backup in place just in case something goes wrong. A friend proposed a joint venture and we picked Whitefield as a spot since we had many customers coming in regularly and complaining about the lack of hangout options there. Soon we found a place. But instead of my friend, I got my Dad interested in investing yet again with a promise to deliver as always. Chaipatty Teafe Whitefield is a big enough place, more lounge-ish and ofcourse more creative too! It's still to get the full flavor but is already making inroads into customer's hearts.
Chaipatty's 1 year Anniversary 27th Dec 2011
Chai stalls hardly get to celebrate anniversary but we have been diligently celebrating it month by month till we touched a year this 27th December 2011. The joy of having completed a successful first year with 3 branches and numerous customers was sweet enough for us to try a small celebration. We had a cake specially done by Monika Manchanda from Sin-A-Mon and ofcourse lots of customers wishing us on the big day. Hoping for many more such moments and even more such lovely customers.
Chaipatty's Tryst with Ruskin Bond 6th Jun 2012
Once upon a time a famous boy lived called Rusty, who had written at the age of seventeen an award winning book called "The Room on the Roof".
Chaipatty on CNBC TV18 Young Turks
Facts and Figures
Today, Chaipatty Teafe is 5 branches strong, has served over 400000 customers, has over 3600 facebook likes and a growing number of followers on twitter. We are amongst the top 5% restaurants on Zomato, getting there on the others and the favorite Tea place-cum-hangout spot for most city dwellers. Thanks to our Rocket Singh style of hospitality, we have been extensively covered by the print media(Both Bangalore and outside Bangalore), news channels(Regional & national) and something that we are personally proud of - being a part of numerous blogs of some of our revered customers.
Relocated Indiranagar Bigger & Better
The time has come to slowly move Chaipatty Indiranagar into a more sustainable and long term proposition keeping all the feel good factors of the concept intact and taking your experience to a new high.We have a nice outside staircase balcony smoking section & a wonderful inside space overseeing the road below through the glass wall on one side. It's almost as big as the old space. Go & check it out!
Check out our new outstation outlet at Kandivali Mumbai. 17th Aug 2014
Chaipatty Teafe, Growel's 101 Mall Akurli Rd, Off.Western Express Highway, Kandivali East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400101, India