Friday, 4 October 2024

“Tea Thambi” Goes from Bicycle to Café!

A young man peddling tea from his bicycle in less than four years, became the owner of a chain of stalls and one café. All of these offering the same enticing masala chai as the main attraction. An engineering graduate Kavievanan Subramaniam made a living selling masala tea on the streets of Brickfields. That little business has since blossomed.

Kavie, 27, has permanently parked his trusty bicycle as an exhibit in his first ever café and now scuttles between his five roadside stalls located across the city. A second café is now in the works. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org

 Clearly, Tea Thambi Café is his pride and joy. Located on the ever-congested Jalan Tun Perak, the little tea house occupies a strategic spot, with the Masjid Jamek LRT station close by and where foot traffic is heavy. The aromas of sweet tea and hot snacks brings in the crowd. 

His famous masala chai kept hot in their metal flasks, alongside new additions to the menu, such as ginger tea and BRU coffee. 

During his bicycling days, Kavie used to sell bread and biscuits as snacks to go along with his tea. He has since upgraded to making his own snacks, with vadai, curry puffs and kuih ketayap among the offerings. 

And Kavie has Tea Thambi stalls in Bangsar, Masjid India, Brickfields and Bukit Bintang. Additionally, he has enough name recognition to be receiving catering requests from event managers. 

Given how busy he is, how does he ensure that the tea at all his stalls and at the café are of the same great quality? A centralised kitchen is the answer. Everything is made sure to be perfect before releasing the tea for sale. 

Many young Malaysians could emulate Kavie and start businesses that serve a niche or mass market. Job creation, supply chain enhancements and many more other advantages await a budding entrepreneur. But it takes guts, perseverance, a keen eye to detail, some initial funds and common sense on location, products and price to grow a business. And we need many more entrepreneurs for Malaysia to grow! 

Reference:

“Tea Thambi” goes from bicycle, to stalls to café in KL, FMT Lifestyle, 11 June 2024

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