- [Ayan] New York is one of the most cosmopolitan cities
in the world, but finding an authentic cup
of chai was so hard,
and so we really wanted to create something
that we wanted to exist.
- I think it's so important to play to your strengths
when you have a strong co-founder or strong brother.
I think it really helps that you don't have to worry
about, you know, not trusting somebody
or not being able to put pressure on that person.
And we got really lucky in that sense.
I'm Ani Sanyal.
- And I'm Ayan Sanyal.
And Kolkata Chai is our business.
Masala chai is basically a spiced milk tea
that's found on the streets of South Asia everywhere.
It's usually made with different spices,
like cardamom and ginger, and a really strong black tea.
The perfect cup of chai is really about balance.
You wanna balance the different spice elements
and you wanna balance the strength of the tea,
and you also wanna balance how milky it is.
And if you get all these things, kind of, perfectly done
then it makes a really wonderful warming
and energizing drink.
- I think shifting the narrative from survival
to thriving is really important as first gen kids,
and we take that personally.
We're still used to watching our parents struggle
and, kind of find their footing in this American Dream.
We don't get to really tell our story a lot of the time
and I think that's what, you know, we've done
with Kolkata Chai is really plant a flag
for, you know, where our family comes from,
what our culture is about.
- And the name especially.
Kolkata is the Bengali pronunciation
of the old city of Calcutta, the old capital,
the old British capital of India.
That's where both our parents were born.
And that name just means a lot to us.
We really wanted to put Kolkata in New York City.
- Ayan is the product guy and the retail guy,
so anything that you taste is Ayan.
And I'm the marketing and branding guy
and everything that you see is me.
And I think we were naturally inclined, you know,
to own those parts of the business.
And so I run all the online, the digital, the e-commerce
and Ayan works on creating the perfect cafe experience
for our customers.
We are, you know, in rapid growth mode
and so right now we make anywhere
between $100,00 to $200,000 a month
and we expect that to grow, you know, rapidly
in the next couple months.
I think building an omnichannel business is essential
nowadays because of the different ways
that people consume.
People want multiple touchpoints
and multiple options
and I think food is an industry that's been behind the curve
in terms of adopting omnichannel.
You want to meet customers where they are
at any point in time,
you want to have the optionality, you know,
for them to enjoy your product.
Right now, our three,
main revenue channels are the brick and mortar business,
which we're sitting in right now, our e-commerce business,
which has our dry tea and spice mix,
along with other products.
And our food service business,
where we supply our chai concentrate to restaurants,
cafes, and people looking to bring authentic chai
to their operation.
- We want to be in every major city in some capacity
where, you know, you could go on your phone
and order a cup of chai
or, you know, order a nice little street food snack
if you want, and just be available
and make that authentic experience
that we've made available in New York City,
make that available to everybody.
- The e-commerce operations are obviously a huge part
of our business and I don't manage it alone.
For me, it's about setting a tone and setting a vision
for, you know, products, the voice, the content
and how we want things to look and feel.
We never spent a dollar in online marketing
for the last two years and we've had six figure,
you know, growth each year.
And so that just goes to show the power of brand
and the power of community when you do things right.
- The future that I see of Kolkata Chai is
that it's going to be the chai brand in the United States
where different access points are gonna be available.
- The long term vision
for Kolkata Chai is to be the household name
for chai globally across brick and mortar, e-commerce
and, you know, picking it up in stores,
like at retail CPG stores.
And we want people
to be able to finally experience authentic chai.
It's a big vision and it takes a lot of big focus,
but that's where we've been at.
- [Ayan] Our mom is actually like one
of the biggest marketing vehicles for KCC
because she be telling everybody
about what we're doing and I think she's very proud of that.
- I tell Ayan all the time, you know,
what we're most proud is
what impact it's had on our parents.
You know, kind of giving them something
to look forward to every time they come to New York.
Giving them something to talk about
in their own community and really knowing
that their sons were able to A, work together
and figure something out, but B, also create something
that was so real.
I think it's given our parents almost like a second life
and I think that's really exciting,
you know, as first gen kids to see that joy.
That's been a huge motivational, you know,
factor for us. - For sure.
We fight less because of it.
(Ayan chuckles)