the upgraded tea kadai | neighbourhood experiences
“anna oru tea.”
a phrase that feels like home, and usually uttered at a place we’ve probably spent more time at than our actual homes… or offices!
the humble tea kadai: a singular, profitable small business, run by someone you have grown up visiting multiple times a week, if not every day, with rock-steady standards. profitable. concrete client base. at this point, the “humble” tea kadai sounds more like an institution than many of today’s soonicorns and unicorns. and that’s because it is.
make no mistake, however. the tea kadai is evolving with the times! as we have changed, so have the times and trends. and one would think that your neighbourhood tea stalls and juice shops are losing out to the bigger, more funded, new-age players like Starbucks and Third Wave Coffee.
however, as the bigger players bring newer experiences, polished and aspirational, and connecting cultures across the world(pumpkin-spice lattes during the winter months from Starbucks, anyone?), the landmarks of our childhood and neighbourhood are bridging the gap with a simple tool: branding!
with the smaller and yet, historied landmarks in in our neighbourhoods like cool biz, and newer players like Teabon, there is a strong case to make for branding being the method through which the experiences, delivered at a fraction of the bigger players’ prices, are elevated. from branded packaging when you order from the shops on Zomato or Swiggy, or in the physical space, where the colours are uniform, the lighting even, the furniture comfortable, and also air-conditioned as a respite from the heat of tropical Chennai.
and the objective is not to reach over and occupy the same space as a Starbucks either. the context remains resolutely homebound. the plastic cups are now glasses and kettles. the newspapers or tissues are now neatly colour-coordinated plates! the same buns and biscuits you dipped in your tea now add to the nostalgia baked into the experience, rather than playing on the affordability that started the relationship in the first place! it isn’t a Starbucks, but a Starbucks, too, could never be this! a stellar example of the power branding has — their own distinct identities.
and yet, when you walk in, it’s the same old tea kadai. just elevated.
what are the stores around you, that you see growing into landmarks in your neighbourhood through branding?