TankArshad Khan says, “I had always wanted my cafe, even when working at somebody else’s dhaba.”
Who would have thought that the viral blue-eyed tea seller would one day demand Rs 1 crore on Shark Tank Pakistan for a five percent equity stake in his cafe, Cafe Chai Wala?
Clad in an expensive black suit, Arshad Khan stormed into Shark Tank Pakistan with his business partner Kazim Hasan and spoke volumes about his acclaim on the show by asking the judges to invest in his business.
He said, “I had never left Islamabad before that. Many people advised starting my cafe. I had always wanted my cafe even when working at somebody else’s dhaba.”
His first cafe took a sad turn when the pandemic hit in 2020, but he relaunched it in October of the same year and has been making a profit from it. Surprisingly enough, he also has two operational cafes in Pakistan. They also have three outlets operating in England on a franchise model, which yields him 35,000 Pakistani rupees for five percent royalty.
He went on to say that he wanted to open more such profitable outlets across the globe and showed his vision for expansion. He justified his expansion in London by citing his strategy to tap into the South Asian diaspora and phase in Pakistani culture abroad.
The café’s design spells Pakistani motifs and elements, with the inspiration borrowed from street aesthetics, making it unique.
