Tata Tea delays expansion plans for Chai Unchai by 6-8 months

Tata Tea’s branded tea shop Chai Unchai’s expansion plans will be delayed by 6-8 months following the economic turbulence and slump in the real estate sector.

Chai Unchai’s tea shops were launched in Bangalore in January this year. The company had planned to test-market the concept in Bangalore before scaling its retail footprint across the nation.

“Due to the economic slowdown and the fallout in the real estate sector, our expansion plans for Chai Unchai have got delayed by 6-8 months. We are stepping a lot more slower,” said Sangeeta Talwar, executive director, marketing, Tata Tea. Talwar is also keen on experimenting with more retail formats. The current format is neither a vending kiosk nor a coffee parlour. It is positioned slightly higher than the roadside stalls but below upmarket coffee shops.

“We will open the cafe format of retail chains for our tea parlour in Bangalore in the next 3-4 months and study the response before we expand the brand nationally,” said Talwar.

Chai Unchai is targeted at the youth segment and with its launch, the company is hopeful of increasing the consumption of out-of-home tea.

Its focus on the youth segment through its ‘Jaago Re’ campaign has met with good response. “The ‘Jaago Re’ campaign for 1 billion votes has already seen 1 lakh users register on the site within two months of the campaign’s launch,” said Talwar.

Earlier this week, Tata Tea also launched the second edition of its Tata Tea Jaago Re Soccer Stars campaign targeted at schoolchildren. Through this campaign, the company plans to promote football among school children and provide them with a platform to participate in the Arsenal International Soccer Festival.