Chaayos appoints Ajay Kaul as Chief Advisor; aims to operate 300 outlets in 5 yrs

Tiger Global-backed tea cafe chain Chaayos has roped in former Jubilant Foodworks CEO Ajay Kaul as their Chief Advisor with an aim to scale up to 300 outlets across top 8 cities in India in the next 5 years.

"In the last 5 years, we have invested heavily in building our foundation and we are ready for a scale up. In his capacity as Chief advisor, Ajay will strengthen Chaayos' foothold in the country, by establishing a deep presence across eight major cities in India," Chaayos Founder and CEO Nitin Saluja told PTI.

Ajay took Domino's from 90 stores to 1,100 stores in his 12 year stint at Jubilant Foodworks. This created the largest market for Domino's in the world (outside of USA). He will help Chaayos with faster and stronger scale up, Saluja added.

Chaayos, at present, runs 50 outlets across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Chandigarh.

Talking about his role at Chaayos, Ajay Kaul said: "I will advise the company at a strategic level and help create a big brand out of Chaayos. Our aim is to have 300 Chaayos outlets in the next five years".

The tea cafe chain is planning to enter new cities, including Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderbad and Pune.

When asked if Kaul has also invested in the company, Kaul said: "I hold certain equity". He, however, refused to elaborate on percentage of equity held or when he invested in Chaayos.

The tea cafe chain, founded in November 2012 by Raghav Verma and Nitin Saluja, had raised USD 5 million from Tiger Global in 2015.

To a query, if the company is looking at raising fresh funds, Saluja said: "Not in the near future".