The Tea Time brand has emerged as one of India’s fastest-growing food and beverage franchises, boasting an impressive growth rate of 35% annually since 2020. With over 4,000 outlets nationwide, Tea Time has revolutionized the traditional chai business by blending India’s rich tea culture with modern café aesthetics. Franchisees have reported average monthly profits ranging from ₹1 lakh to ₹3 lakhs, with the highest profits generated in urban locations. This growth is a testament to Tea Time’s ability to adapt to consumer preferences.
By tapping into the established tea culture, Tea Time has met the growing demand for premium beverages paired with convenient food options. As per company research, India’s specialty tea café market is poised to reach ₹13,000 crores by 2026, growing at an 18% CAGR. Factors like urbanization, increasing disposable income, and evolving consumption patterns towards experiential dining make Tea Time an attractive franchise opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs. With a relatively low entry cost compared to other F&B franchises, it’s a promising business venture for those looking to capitalize on the booming market.
Tea has been an integral part of Indian culture for centuries, and its evolution into specialized tea outlets has seen a remarkable rise in recent years. Among the many tea brands, Tea Time has made an impressive impact, offering a unique blend of tradition and modernity. In this blog, we will explore the Tea Time franchise cost, market trends, and why investing in this growing tea café brand could be a smart business move for entrepreneurs in India.
About Tea Time Brand
| Category | Tea Time Franchise |
| Founder | Tangella Uday Srinivas |
| Founded in | 2016 |
| Products Offered | Teas, Coffee, Snacks, Smoothies, Pastries, Desserts |
| Number of Franchises | 4000+ |
| Target Audience | Tea & Coffee Lovers, Young Adults, Health-Conscious Consumers |
| Growth Potential | High (Expanding globally/regionally, strong consumer demand) |
Tea Time is one of the fastest-growing food and beverage franchises in India, combining traditional chai culture with a modern café experience. With over 4,000 outlets nationwide, the brand has successfully captured the hearts of tea lovers by offering a unique blend of premium beverages, snacks, and wellness drinks.
Key Highlights of Tea Time:
- Traditional Meets Modern: The brand merges India’s rich chai heritage with contemporary café aesthetics to create a cozy and inviting atmosphere for tea enthusiasts.
- Signature Offerings:
- Masala Innovation: Over 15 unique chai varieties, with regional spice blends.
- Premium tea leaves sourced directly from Darjeeling, Assam, and Nilgiris estates.
- Health-conscious wellness beverages catering to the health-savvy consumer.
- Sustainability: Tea Time emphasizes eco-friendly practices, including sustainable farming and responsible sourcing.
- Diverse Menu:
- Classic Teas: ₹30-60 (traditional chai varieties)
- Premium Signature Blends: ₹60-120 (innovative tea options)
- Food Items: ₹80-150 (snacks and light meals)
- Desserts: ₹90-180 (sweet offerings to complement the tea)
- Best-Selling Items:
- Kulhad Masala Chai – ₹70 (authentic spiced tea served in a traditional clay cup)
- Kashmiri Kahwa – ₹90 (green tea brewed with saffron and almonds)
- Chocolate Bun Maska – ₹110 (buttery bun with chocolate filling)
- Cheese Chilli Toast – ₹130 (savory toast complementing the tea selection)
- Revenue Breakdown:
- Drinks: 60% of total revenue with 65-70% gross margin
- Food Items: 30% of total revenue with 50-55% gross margin
- Retail Products: 10% of total revenue (packaged tea blends and branded merchandise)
- Financial Performance:
- Average Customer Spend: ₹150-200 per visit
- Daily Sales Range: ₹30,000-40,000 for typical high-performing outlets
- Several Revenue Streams: Well-balanced on-premise and take-home products
Tea Time offers a highly profitable and unique business model for franchisees, catering to the deep-rooted tea culture in India while appealing to modern tastes and preferences.
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Why Choose a Tea Time Franchise?
The franchise offers various advantages that make it one of the most highly sought business ventures for the F&B sector by entrepreneurs. Some of the compelling reasons why this franchise is a smart investment include the following:
Minimum Start-up Cost:
On various parameters, the initial start-up Tea Time franchise cost happens to be one of the relatively cheap F&B franchises to acquire. Investments will begin with INR 10 lakhs to INR 25 lakhs depending upon location and the scale for outlets. Franchise cost will include interior setup costs along with equipment, an investment in initial stock, as well as the cost of advertising will be required.
Working Business Model:
The most attractive benefit for any investor in this g ranchise is the use of an already tried and tested profitable business model. Franchise support involves staff training, operation guidance, marketing, and branding. Established reputation and recognition in the market can easily attract customers and push new franchisees toward higher profitability.
Scalable business opportunity:
The opportunity is scalable, allowing franchisees to start with a small outlet and then grow with the business. Whatever it is- a kiosk, a café, or bigger outlets- flexible options are there for every kind of budget and business strategy. Scalability is a great reason why this will be perfect for entrepreneurs of all experience levels.
Cultural Significance and Huge Demand:
Tea is the heart of Indian culture, and a welcome chai break is a part of daily life in every Indian home and workplace. With the growing interest in premium and niche tea varieties and the rise in cafe culture, the demand for tea-based products remains consistent.
Tea Time Franchise Cost Breakdown
A) Unit Franchise
Designed for individuals seeking to operate a single outlet, this model is ideal for entrepreneurs starting a small-scale tea business in India.
Investment Details:
- Total Investment: ₹5 lakhs (inclusive of franchise fee)
- Setup Costs: ₹1–2 lakhs (covering interiors, branding, furniture, and equipment)
- Initial Inventory: ₹50,000–₹1 lakh (including tea leaves, milk, sugar, spices, cups, and packaging)
- Other Expenses: ₹1–2 lakhs (for licensing, permits, FSSAI, GST, and municipal approvals)
- Royalty Fee: 3% of gross sales (capped at ₹9,000 per month)
- Working Capital: ₹1–2 lakhs (for salaries, stock, utilities, and marketing)
Operational Requirements:
- Space: Minimum 100 sq. ft. outlet at a high-footfall location such as bus stops, highways, hospitals, markets, railway stations, IT campuses, or colleges
- Staff: Two employees trained by Tea Time’s chefs
- Training: Comprehensive training provided, enabling individuals to learn the entire Tea Time menu in approximately three days.
Financial Performance:
- Profit Margin: 40%–80%
- Average Payback Period: 5 to 10 months
- Product Pricing: Starting from ₹15 (Dum Tea) to ₹99 (Premium Milkshakes).
B) Master Franchise
Aimed at individuals or entities interested in overseeing a larger territory, the Master Franchise model involves managing multiple unit franchises and expanding the brand’s presence in a specific region.
Responsibilities:
- Territory Management: Oversee and support multiple unit franchises within a designated area
- Recruitment: Identify and onboard potential unit franchisees
- Training and Support: Provide training, stock management, and logistical support to unit franchises
- Revenue Streams: Earn from a percentage of the franchise fees and a share of the monthly royalties paid by unit franchises
Benefits:
- Scalability: Opportunity to expand rapidly by adding multiple unit franchises
- Revenue Potential: Multiple income streams from franchise fees, royalties, and owned units
- Brand Association: Leverage Tea Time’s established brand recognition and operational support
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Essential for a Tea Time Franchise
One should learn all the elements of complementing the right business venture, especially the franchise before venturing into such an activity. Here are the essential elements that one must use in order to be successful with this:
Location
The location will define the overall success of any franchise. One would hope that locations like over a shopping mall, busy market streets, or office complexes or educational institutes guarantee healthy flows of customers to such locations. The location should thus be easily accessible and conveniently located in a space that can accommodate comfortable seating areas for the customers.
Investment in Infrastructure
Ambience would be the first thing that attracts and will keep the customer from coming back again. It should be a warm and hospitality-generating idea as is the concept. This calls for careful design and décor. The equipment included would be brewing machines, refrigerators for chilled beverages, ovens for serving snacks, point-of-sale systems etc.
Employees and Training
Good customer experiences are contingent on a well-trained staff. Franchisees must ensure the team has training not just in customer service but also in the preparation of many of the brews of tea and snacks sold within the franchise. It provides both franchisee and staff training, although it is reasonable to expect that local managers and baristas have knowledge of brand standards.
Marketing and Promotions:
The proper marketing will be required to attract footfalls of significant numbers along with customer loyalty. Even though the centralized marketing team of the company will provide support to the franchisees, local outlets will have to perform all promotions, social media marketing, and loyalty programs to attract the customers to visit again and again.
Brand Compliance
This franchise, like any other franchisee, has set standards for their degree of brand compliance, service delivery, product quality, and overall image about the brand. Therefore, due to such prescriptions, what will represent integrity and success in a franchise is the observance of those prescriptions.
Required Documents
Having set the franchise, a few documents, which shall be drawn up legally and officially, have to be prepared. These documents will serve for the legal establishment and compliance with local laws. Here are some of them:
- Franchise Agreement: Legally signed between franchisor, and the franchisee; contains description of rights and obligations of parties negotiating it as terms of the franchise, process of royalty payment along with operational guidelines etc
- Proof of Identity: Government ID cards including the recently provided Aadhaar, Passport or Voter ID to establish legal identity.
- Proof of Residence Utility bill, rental agreement, or even property deed
- Financial Documents: It requires proof of financial capabilities, like bank statements or tax returns and a certificate of net worth, where the franchisee would have all the requisite financial wherewithal to deal with the investments.
- Business Registration: A franchisee has to duly register his business under the head of sole proprietorship, partnership, or private limited company. He will have to get different licenses from municipal bodies of his particular local area, health departments, and food safety authorities.
- GST registration: The franchisees need to register for Goods and Service Tax (GST) as their business is operating in the Indian market.
Support and Training Provided by Tea Time Franchise
One of the biggest advantages of having this franchise is the strong support and training that the franchisor will provide. It makes sure their franchisees are ready and able to run an effective business through several services and advice they receive.
Pre-Opening Training Franchisees
Even before their store opens, their staff would go through a comprehensive training program. This would include training in different varieties of tea preparation, servicing standards at the outlets and the usage of proper equipment. This would be both technical as well as soft skills imparted i.e., the ones related to brewing techniques and food handling as well as customer service and communication.
Operational Support
It has always been continuously offering operational support to its franchisees in line with making day-to-day operations easy. It offers supply chain management, control of inventory levels, and product uniformity. Franchisees are supplied with an operational manual detailing all the brand’s procedures so that all outlets share the same standard.
Marketing Support
The franchisor assists its franchisees with local and national marketing efforts. As it fosters the presence of its franchisees in their respective local markets, they benefit from national brand promotions, seasonal marketing events, and other social media activities that attract people to drive by and boost brand awareness.
Periodic Audits and Monitoring
Tea Time continuously carries out performance audits to ensure that the franchisees are walking up to the brand guidelines. It maintains the standard of quality uniform for all the outlets and also gives an opportunity for feedback to be given to the franchisees so that they can improve their respective operations.
Ongoing Support
Franchisees are on full-time support concerning troubleshooting, staff training, and advice on how to operate. The team is ever ready to tackle any issues that may arise in order to ensure smooth running of the business and proper response to the dynamics in the market.
How to Apply for Tea Time Franchise
Applying for it is pretty straightforward. The process has been developed to have the franchisor and the franchisee converge in their expectations and goals as well. To apply for a franchise, do the following:
Initial Question First
Connect with the brand to show interest in becoming a franchisee. One can do this through the company’s website, or they reach out to their franchise development team. The team will give you some general information about the franchise model, tea time franchise costs, and requirements.
Franchise Application
If you continue to be interested after this initial consultation, you will have to fill up an application form. The application form ordinarily encompasses information concerning your background, financial capability, experience in business, and the location of interest.
Screening and Appraisal
It reviews the applications to make sure the applicants have met the opening requirements of a franchise and appraises the feasibility of the location proposed for the restaurant, which will be consistent with the brand’s target market area.
Franchise Agreement
On confirmation of your application, you will be given a chance to sign a franchise agreement. The legally-binding document will outline the terms and conditions that include investment details, royalty fees, and other obligations.
Launching and Training
Once you sign the franchise agreement, you would start the procedure of establishing your outlet. It would guide you through selecting a site, store design, and supply chain set-up. In addition, the comprehensive training programme for you and your staff would start before your outlet is open.
Why It’s Worth the Investment
- Location Impact: Metropolitan outlets in commercial areas or near educational institutions break even in 10-14 months; Tier-2 cities take 14-18 months.
- Net Profit Margins: 18-22% after all expenses, including royalty payments.
- Monthly Revenue: ₹4-7 lakhs for standard cafés; premium locations can exceed ₹10 lakhs.
- Monthly Profits: Franchisees typically earn ₹70,000 to ₹1.5 lakhs after operational expenses.
- ROI: Averaging 25-30% annually; some locations report up to 40% ROI.
- Customer Acquisition Cost: ₹20-30 per customer due to strong brand recognition.
- Customer Retention: 65-70%, significantly higher than the industry standard of 40-45%.
- Repeat Purchases: Regular customers make 3-4 visits per month.
- Low Product Wastage: Under 5%, contributing to healthy profit margins.
- Tiered Pricing Strategy: Captures value across different consumer segments, ensuring long-term profitability.
- Scalability: Franchise model supports multi-unit expansion.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Tea Time Franchise Business
Advantages:
- Brand Identity: A brand like this is aware of the market can be seen as an advantage for franchises rather than setting up an independent tea shop.
- Strong Low investment: The initial investment to start this is relatively low compared to other food and beverage businesses.
- Comprehensive Support: It trains and supports its franchisees in terms of marketing and operation that results in a minimized chance for a failed venture
- Continuous growth: demand for premium, new tea products, especially for the young category.
Disadvantages
- Competition: The business of tea cafes is becoming very competitive as so many new entrants and large brands are entering to claim a pie. The franchisee will definitely have to experience challenges from so many people.
- Location Dependence: Success depends heavily on the location for any franchise. Areas that have very heavy footfalls-a shopping mall, a business district, and a college are ideal but quite pricey.
- Business Needs: Just like in any other business, running a franchise requires consistent working efforts. The franchise owner needs to monitor daily activities such as human resources and quality, which will make the business acquire profits.
Market Trends of Tea and Related Products in India
This has caused a mushrooming growth of specialty tea houses and franchised outlets that serve a multitudinous range of teas and snacks.
Rise in High-end Tea Consumption:
Premium and organic tea is in higher demand. The healthy-conscious consumers are looking for herbal teas, green teas, and more functional-benefit teas. Organic tea has gained demand highly as customers require good quality combined with a health promise from the same products.
Tea as a Lifestyle Product:
The drink has also become a way of living. With many niche tea outlets sprouting across metros with tea as an added premium, the cafe culture in the country has brought forth a tea cafe where not only tea is being consumed, but also a social activity is being indulged in.
Ready to Drink (RTD) Teas
The prepared-to-drink tea market is gaining pace in India as more and more working professionals, students, and the youth look for drinks that are healthy and won’t upset their stomachs. Brands have now introduced bottled iced teas, fruit-infused teas, and low-sugar teas to cater to this segment.
Tier-2 and Tier-3 City Development:
Tea cafes are already very strong in main cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. However, demand for such centers is rapidly arising in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. A fast-raising urbanization and increasing disposable income within Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities serve as great opportunities for opening new franchises of tea.
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Conclusion
Tea Time franchise cost provides an attractive opportunity in India’s booming tea market. A tested business model coupled with minimum investment requirements creates the perfect entry route to F&B industry entrepreneurs. However, for every business, all the obstacles possess its rank among others as well as its locations. This franchise will thrive for franchisees who select good locations, operate properly, and concentrate on customer experiences.
FAQs
How much does it cost to open a Tea Time franchise?
The investment would be between INR 10 lakhs to INR 25 lakhs, depending upon the outlet size and location.
Does the franchise continue to offer support?
The Tea Time provides continuous support in terms of operations, marketing, and training to the franchisees up to the expiry date of the franchise agreement.
How much will I have to pay in royalty fees?
It takes royalty fees that range mostly between 5-7% of the monthly revenue.
Can a franchise be opened at any location?
Location Selection is vital. Tea Time assists the franchisee in the selection of a location offering high footfall and closely aligning with the brand’s target market.
