London-based British chain Chaiiwala expands rapidly in Metro Vancouver

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Vahljiet Grayye’s son-in-law told him to try a new tea shop that he compared to an Indian Starbucks. Since then, she has been hooked on Chaiiwala’s pink chaii.

“I was in love,” she said recently while enjoying a basket of masala chips (fries topped with a sweet and spicy tomato sauce) at the UK-based chain’s newest location in Newton.

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Owned by Surrey business partners Shiraj Kothiwala and Ajmal Gundhra, who own the Canadian franchise rights to London Chaiiwala, there are now 10 Chaiiwala locations across the country, with another three opening over the next month in Calgary. The goal is to open 70 to 80 stores across Canada, 15 of them in British Columbia by early next year.

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Kothiwala said Newton’s new store is special because it is located in its own neighborhood.

After just four days, a rotation of regulars have been enjoying their morning takeaway karak chaii or a post-primary school drop-off desi breakfast. Teenagers come for Nutella paratha after finishing high school, while grandparents reach for a cup of chai or garam hot chocolate in the evening.

The cafe is open until 1am, when a younger crowd arrives and orders from a menu that includes street bites like samosa chaat and desserts like gulab jamun cheesecake and rose ice cream.

“We love it when we come in and the tables are full,” Gundhra said. “There is a saying that chai brings people together.”

The friends describe themselves as foodies and also enjoy traveling. Kothiwala, who previously worked in logistics for Loblaws as well as running an Anytime Fitness gym, visited a Chaiiwala store in the United Kingdom in 2019. Later that year, he began talking to Gundhra, an aeronautical engineer who operates a construction and a flooring store. among other endeavors, to open a hamburger or fried chicken restaurant.

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The men were one of 75 applicants for the Canadian rights to Chaiiwala of London, a company that started in the United Kingdom in 2016 but has estate further back in India where one of the founder’s ancestors had a small tea stall in 1927.

When the company approached to ask how serious the men were about their proposal, Kothiwala and Gundhra offered to take a plane to London the next day. They signed a deal in late March 2020, just as the world was on lockdown in the early days of the COVID pandemic.

Gundhra said his vision never wavered. They knew they had community support, as well as enormous growth potential among BC’s top coffee and tea consumers. After the pandemic, “we knew people were looking for a place to gather again.”

Chaiiwala tea is made from spice blends that come from three different regions of the world. The secret recipe takes almost an hour to prepare.

Both Kothiwala and Gundhra enjoy karak chaii, a strong, intensely spiced tea, but said their pink chaii, which gets its color from a blend of spices and milk, is also very popular. Their food fuses the flavors of the East Indies subcontinent, East Africa and England.

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The men opened their first store in Scarborough in late 2021, followed by one in Abbotsford. More Canadian locations followed. There are currently three stores in Surrey, including Newton, and one in Langley. Plans are underway for stores in New Westminster, Central City Mall and White Rock. So far, they have signed up about 70 franchisees across the country.

The success has been exciting, Kothiwala said. Midway through an interview on Friday, Gundhra paused and then ran out with her phone in her hand. A bus had just stopped next to the shop with a Chaiiwala advertisement on the back. He tried to take a photo, but couldn’t.

“There will be another,” he said.

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