Hasan Minhaj didn’t essentially plan so as to add investor to his already burgeoning resume. As an alternative, the chance introduced itself in a cup of easy, spicy chai.
9 months after his first sip of the Kolkata Chai Co.’s signature mix, the Every day Present alumni has gone from a loyal buyer to the model’s second-largest stakeholder and enterprise accomplice, with an undisclosed however vital funding.
Sitting down with ADWEEK, he was crystal clear this wasn’t one other perfunctory movie star ambassadorship however reasonably a chance to carry South Asian tradition into the mainstream and lean on his storytelling chops to offer chai its “matcha second.”
“There’s a groundswell of affection for the corporate, the model, the neighborhood that they’ve constructed that spoke to me,” he mentioned. “Not solely do I need to be part of this… I imagine within the founders, I need to put pores and skin within the sport and be a part of it,” he mentioned.
The brainwave of brothers Ayan and Ani Sanyal, Kolkata Chai began life as a café in New York’s East Village in 2019. The hotspot had a single mission: to serve up genuine Indian masala chai to Individuals in all its steaming, fragrant glory. It supplied an antithesis to what it described because the “bastardized” model bought by company espresso chains.
By 2022 the startup had secured $1 million in funding. Advertising rooted in neighborhood and innovation — gentle serve chai ice cream giveaways, a collaboration with buzzy New York eatery seventh Avenue Burger, having Hasan serve drinks at its Williamsburg opening in Could — has pushed progress shortly.
It now counts three places throughout New York and operates a flourishing on-line enterprise, the place patrons can purchase its signature combine, present containers, and recipes.
The latter accounts for the majority of its revenues, and because it plots its it’s eyeing a broader product vary and a deeper transfer into the CPG area.
Buddies really useful Minhaj take a look at the model’s eponymous hangout for years. Nevertheless, between writing and filming two Netflix specials (the third is pending), securing a task within the movie It Ends With Us alongside Blake Vigorous, and co-founding manufacturing firm 186K Movies, he by no means fairly made it.
When his spouse walked into their Manhattan condominium in January with a Kolkata Chai Co. starter package Minhaj had a mug, “fell in love with it,” instantly discovered Ani’s quantity on-line and shortly organized a “meet-cute.”
