WEBVTT - Actor/Comedian Hasan Minhaj Talks New Chai Venture

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. When it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>foreign policy, the US has sought to cultivate a deeper

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<v Speaker 1>partnership with India, and if you think about it, it

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<v Speaker 1>really makes sense. There are about four point eight million

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<v Speaker 1>Indian Americans in the United States. That's according to some

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<v Speaker 1>Census Bureau data. Indian Americans account for twenty percent of

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<v Speaker 1>the nation's Asian American population. Overall, two thirds of Indian

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<v Speaker 1>Americans are immigrants, thirty four percent are US born, and

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<v Speaker 1>around half of Indian Americans live in four US states California, Texas,

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<v Speaker 1>New Jersey, and New York numbers. Carol, I know well.

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<v Speaker 1>I want to give a little bit of a said

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<v Speaker 1>because these guys are thinking a lot about that community,

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<v Speaker 1>reaching out to the community. Our next two guests, We're

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<v Speaker 1>welcome and delighted to have with us, actor comedian Hassin

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<v Speaker 1>Minjohn Minaj. Forgive me Naj Minaj.

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<v Speaker 2>This is all good, well live, We're alive here on Bloomberg.

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<v Speaker 1>Husain Minaj along with Anyi Sanyal, who co founded Kolkata

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<v Speaker 1>Chai Company with his brother. Welcome, Welcome, welcome, so great

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<v Speaker 1>to have you here with us. Anya, I want to

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<v Speaker 1>start with you because tell us about Kolkata and our

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<v Speaker 1>producer CC has been down to the Soho location says

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<v Speaker 1>it's incredible, very good. You have two in New York City.

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<v Speaker 1>Tell us about how it all came together.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so five years ago, my brother and I decided

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<v Speaker 3>to do the craziest thing possible, which is bring authentic

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<v Speaker 3>chai to America. We grew up being able to travel

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<v Speaker 3>back to India a lot, and you know, New York City,

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<v Speaker 3>you can find anything you want to eat and drink,

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<v Speaker 3>but it was really hard to find a good cup

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<v Speaker 3>of chai. So that's where we started. We opened six

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<v Speaker 3>months before the pandemic. We bootstrapped our first cafe location,

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<v Speaker 3>which I don't recommend, But five years later we are

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<v Speaker 3>at three locations. We just brought on, you know, one

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<v Speaker 3>of the more generational talents in this country to join

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<v Speaker 3>the business, and we're super excited.

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<v Speaker 1>How how did you get involved in it?

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<v Speaker 2>So funny enough, I had heard about the cafe for

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<v Speaker 2>a long time. Getting a great cup of chai is

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<v Speaker 2>kind of a somewhat of a secret in our community.

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<v Speaker 2>You talk about where you can get a great cup.

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<v Speaker 2>Heard about the cafe over in Nolita and then funny enough,

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<v Speaker 2>my wife put me onto it. I get back home,

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<v Speaker 2>I open one of our drawers and it's full filled

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<v Speaker 2>with KCC. Seriously, yeah, She goes, have you had Colcutta chain?

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<v Speaker 2>And I go, yeah, I've heard about it. Is it

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<v Speaker 2>the real deal? And it became Bena approved and therefore

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<v Speaker 2>it became Hasan approved. And then I went down to

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<v Speaker 2>the location. Their their location. They're celebrating their five year

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<v Speaker 2>anniversary this week. But I went down to the Nolita

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<v Speaker 2>location and I saw the community that they've built. They

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<v Speaker 2>now have three cafes, and of course they obviously have

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<v Speaker 2>the incredible DTC business and they've built this amazing omni

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<v Speaker 2>channel platform. And me and you know, Annie got to chatting,

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<v Speaker 2>and a lot of times, you know, celebrities, we get

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<v Speaker 2>asked to participate and hey, you should endorse this product.

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<v Speaker 2>And what they'll do is they'll they'll use your name

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<v Speaker 2>and likeness and they'll white label you with some commodity

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<v Speaker 2>tequila sneakers T shirts and that's great.

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<v Speaker 4>Or you like drink it on the Patriot Act, sure,

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<v Speaker 4>yeah yeah, show yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Or you talk about the Samsung GALAXIESZ Full three by

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<v Speaker 2>Frizon five G the fastest five network available. Right, I've

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<v Speaker 2>done that commercial, but this is different. This is something

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<v Speaker 2>where I genuinely loved the brand. I loved what they

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<v Speaker 2>had been building, and I wanted to authentically tell our

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<v Speaker 2>story through Tea. Is one of the largest markets that's

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<v Speaker 2>growing right now, and getting a great cup of chai

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<v Speaker 2>has been something that in our community we've always wanted

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<v Speaker 2>and they really cracked the code, not only just from

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<v Speaker 2>their brick and mortar business, but the fact that they

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<v Speaker 2>broke the code with the massolid chie concentrate. So when

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<v Speaker 2>I was having that great cup of tea at their

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<v Speaker 2>location in Nolita, I was like, wait, this same cup

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<v Speaker 2>can be here in New York City. I can have

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<v Speaker 2>it in the Midwest. You know, you can have it

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<v Speaker 2>wherever across the country. Which is which was?

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<v Speaker 1>Like?

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<v Speaker 2>That was?

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<v Speaker 1>That was.

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<v Speaker 4>My good friend Kritty Gupta used to make me chai

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<v Speaker 4>and bring it into work, and then unfortunately she was

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<v Speaker 4>transferred to London. So now like, I'm in the market.

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<v Speaker 4>What is the secret to making it really truly authentical?

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<v Speaker 2>What's the coca cola recipe?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 3>I wish I could.

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<v Speaker 4>No.

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<v Speaker 3>The secret is is my brother, He's the head chef

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<v Speaker 3>and he's figured out the perfect blend of tea, spice

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<v Speaker 3>and a little bit of sugar to get that sweet

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<v Speaker 3>and spicy balance. We sourced all of our tea from

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<v Speaker 3>legacy tea estates in Assam in India. So this is

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<v Speaker 3>where one hundred years ago they planted t two hundred

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<v Speaker 3>years ago they started planting tea, and so all of

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<v Speaker 3>our product is coming from that region. So we're talking

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<v Speaker 3>about the most authentic, you know, unfiltered product that you

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<v Speaker 3>can find.

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<v Speaker 2>What Paris is for fashion, I would say Assam is

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<v Speaker 2>for tea. Would you agree with that?

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<v Speaker 4>Honey?

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<v Speaker 1>How big is the market? I have a daughter who

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<v Speaker 1>loves it. Was in Tanzania, brought it back, loved it,

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<v Speaker 1>loved it, loved it. So tell me how big the

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<v Speaker 1>market is and tell us a little bit about the business. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 3>So in the US, the package tea market is about

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<v Speaker 3>a fifteen billion dollar category, but it's growing slowly because

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<v Speaker 3>tea is a little bit sleepy. However, you have these

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<v Speaker 3>modern formats like macha, which is actually growing at a

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<v Speaker 3>ten percent kagger and so we see ourselves as that

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<v Speaker 3>next iteration of macha you mentioned, you know, the growing

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<v Speaker 3>Asian American population in this country, and that is fueling

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<v Speaker 3>this need for people to want to have the real thing.

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<v Speaker 3>We don't want to go to you know, the takeout spots,

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<v Speaker 3>to the fast food spots. We want that real, authentic

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<v Speaker 3>from the source product. And so that's really where we're

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<v Speaker 3>excited about chai as a new category and our business.

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<v Speaker 3>So we've grown three hundred percent year over year, so

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<v Speaker 3>we are on a rocket ship right now. Revenue opline revenue,

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<v Speaker 3>and that's accelerated by our direct consumer business and our

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<v Speaker 3>e commerce product.

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<v Speaker 1>So we do is that where most of the businesses,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's where the.

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<v Speaker 3>That is where most of the revenue is YEP. So

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<v Speaker 3>we use our brick and mortar locations as community building

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<v Speaker 3>and product introduction to the market since Child's relatively new,

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<v Speaker 3>and then we accelerate that growth on direct to consumer.

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<v Speaker 3>And so we have a best in class chai mix

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<v Speaker 3>which is like a tea and spice mix, and we

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<v Speaker 3>do a liquid concentrate product which Hussin alluded to as well,

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<v Speaker 3>and you can make chi in thirty seconds at home,

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<v Speaker 3>So we're going to get you right.

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<v Speaker 2>That's but what you guys were talking about was exactly

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<v Speaker 2>the problem that they solved. Hey, I had a colleague

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<v Speaker 2>that put me onto this great cup of chi. You know,

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<v Speaker 2>my daughter came back. He gave me this great cup

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<v Speaker 2>of chie. And the difficulty has always been is how

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<v Speaker 2>do you pack a package and product this great experience

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<v Speaker 2>that you had somewhere in Tanzania or somewhere in Delhi

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<v Speaker 2>or Mumbai or in Assam, and how do you get

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<v Speaker 2>it to the break room?

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that's you don't want to go to Starbucks and

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<v Speaker 4>get the chai te latte.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm not here to throw it on any other places.

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<v Speaker 2>But but but what cacc has also done, which is historical,

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<v Speaker 2>is they're the first storefront location for a chai cafe.

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<v Speaker 2>So this this thing that is different. Yeah, that's that's

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<v Speaker 2>that has a deep resonance in our culture. It was

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<v Speaker 2>usually relegated to like a side item that you would

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<v Speaker 2>get at a restaurant. But this is like a true

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<v Speaker 2>brick and mortar storefront and an omni channel of business.

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<v Speaker 1>What do you do to grow it? So what's the plans?

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<v Speaker 1>Is it more stores? Is it you bring him on

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<v Speaker 1>to grow right?

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<v Speaker 4>Or do you also like it ends with us?

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<v Speaker 3>It ends with us.

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<v Speaker 4>Take a cup of.

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<v Speaker 2>Tea and yeah, yeah, yeah, number one movie at the

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<v Speaker 2>box office.

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<v Speaker 1>But also like bringing it into other big retail.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, no, you nailed it. I think right now our

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<v Speaker 3>growth is happening on to its consumer and e commerce.

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<v Speaker 3>So that's really where we're dialing in new product formats,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, new ways of advertising and telling that a story.

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<v Speaker 3>I think having huston, you know, generational storyteller, bringing Chi

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<v Speaker 3>to mainstream America through that type of format, through that

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<v Speaker 3>pop culture format, that's what we're really excited about. And

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<v Speaker 3>then to your point about retail expansion being in grocery stores,

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<v Speaker 3>that's the next step for us. We want to be

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<v Speaker 3>accessible to all Americans.

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<v Speaker 2>For me personally, it was about a healthier caffeine alternative

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<v Speaker 2>to coffee. No caffeine, there's no caffeine, but you know, yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>not to get too scientific, but there's l fianine in it,

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<v Speaker 2>which is almost like a like a cleaner, kind of

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<v Speaker 2>healthier sort of kick that you get from chai. So

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<v Speaker 2>also for people who were if coffee's giving you a

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<v Speaker 2>little bit of a rumble in the tumble, it's it's

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<v Speaker 2>it's messing with your tummy a little bit. Chai is

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<v Speaker 2>a great alternative to that, and so For me, I

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<v Speaker 2>think people really want the real thing and they want

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<v Speaker 2>a healthier alternative to coffee or espresso.

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<v Speaker 4>And do you give did you give something to Blake Lively?

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<v Speaker 4>I mean you passing it on to people who aren't

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<v Speaker 4>Indian you want to me? To me, chai fundamentally is

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<v Speaker 4>about community, family commiseration. It's like intrinsically linked to joy

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<v Speaker 4>and being together and so like. To me, the X

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<v Speaker 4>factor to me was why isn't this having it's yerbamate

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<v Speaker 4>or macha moment?

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<v Speaker 2>And I think it really is about to have that.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, this was almost perfect. It would have been

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<v Speaker 1>perfect if you had brought us a cup.

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<v Speaker 2>But did you want it that we could have plugged that.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just saying, Hassin minhaz and anis Sanyelle, thank you

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<v Speaker 1>so much. Really appreciate it. Cooledkatta Chai company. This is

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg