From cramped Delhi room to 155+ outlets across India, how Blue Tokai overcame FSSAI fake licence scare to brew success
Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters began brewing when the founder Matt Chittarangan moved from the United States to Chennai for a business opportunity.
At that time, the third coffee wave was rising globally, focusing from farm to plug concept, transparency and traceability. Inspired by this shift, Chittarangan wanted to bring a “coffee movement” similar to India.
He realized that special coffee was not anywhere in India with respect to all nuances, freshness and origin. The domestic coffee market is mostly dominated by mass mixtures and street -side kiosks, where coffee was more background drinks than a well -prepared experience.
This awareness caused the Blue Tokai to become a Food collector platform when combined with the support of his partner Namrata Asthana. Zomato He wrote on a blog.
Brew a brand from scratch
Chittarangan and Asthana started their initiatives with a simple mission: to supply high -quality Arabic beans directly from Indian manufacturers, fresh them fresh and introduced people what coffee could actually be.
They started using a 500 -gram coffee roasting machine running from Asthana’s family house. Until 2013, they started the first output of Blue Tokai.
Despite gradual success, a counselor hit their first major barricades in Mumbai when they gave them a license of India’s Fake Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI). The police closed them, and then they noticed that the brand had some operational gaps.
During this problematic time, Shivam Shahi joined the journey as a third partner and played the role of chief business officer. Chittarangan believes that “this will not be where it is without him,” Start Pedia.
Expanding the brand beyond borders
In the early days, Blue Tokai knew it was in front of the curve. Shahi said, ık We did not hire it in an aggressive way until 2023 and we worked with a small team in the first years, ”he said. Zomato. However, after Covid-19 pandemi, things changed significantly. “That’s when the business really started. After that we grew 4 times.”
Today, according to the Blue Tokai team, the company plays a major role in its overall growth, including the best -selling products such as almond croissants, butter croissants and mushroom Maya sandwich.
Currently, Blue Tokai runs 155+ sales points in eight states of India and Japan. “Approximately 95% of our business comes from four big cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore,” Shahi said.
Global access
The international expansion decision was inspired by a stable Japanese visitor flow in Sikanderpur Outlet. “We noticed that they are very special in terms of taste and we value everything we stop – quality, origin, stories,” he says. This discovery led to the first overseas cage in Japan.
As he grew up, he made sure that the company privatized its offers according to the location. “In Japan, people prefer darker fries, so we adjust our roasting accordingly.”
He also established a FMCG distribution network in Dubai with the increase in international interest in Indian coffee.
In order to enter new cities, including Hyderabad and Dehradun, the brand continues to dive deeper into its brewing journey. When the blog started with a 500 GM roasting and a few passionate individuals, Blue Tokai has now become a brand that ruins a story with each cup.
