Leicester-founded Indian street food specialist Chaiiwala has expanded rapidly across the UK, Canada and the UAE and has plans for more outlets in its current and new markets.
Sohail Alimohamed, one of the three co-founders, explains how the brand has expanded rapidly over the past decade and how its format combines Asian flavours and quick service.
Tell us a little about Chaiiwala
Sohail Alimohamed: Founded in Leicester in 2015 by three close friends, Chaiiwala is the UK’s leading Indian street food and café brand. The concept was born from a simple but powerful idea – to bring high-quality, authentic Karak chaii and home-style Indian street food to the high street, at speed and without compromise. Today, Chaiiwala operates more than 130 sites globally across the UK, Canada and Dubai, and has served over 100 million cups of chaii, as well as generated total system sales of £100 million.
With 2,500 employees in the UK alone, we have built something that genuinely resonates – a fast-casual brand rooted in authenticity, community and flavour that works across a wide range of locations, from high streets and shopping centres to airports, universities and drive-thrus.
Your in-store style is very distinctive, how was this concept conceived?
Sohail Alimohamed: The store design is a direct expression of what Chaiiwala is at its core, a brand steeped in the culture and energy of Indian street food. From the outset, the aim was to create spaces that feel vibrant, welcoming and reflective of the energy of the streets where chaii culture originated. Each café is designed to act as a community hub, whether customers are stopping by for a quick breakfast or spending time with friends over chaii in the evening.
Practically, our format is also highly adaptable. Our quick-service model, with most orders ready in five to ten minutes, means we can apply the brand successfully to a wide range of location types and footprints. This flexibility has enabled us to partner with leading multi-site franchise operators and expand into high-footfall locations including retail parks, shopping centres, airports and universities.
What are your store expansion plans, especially in Europe?
Sohail Alimohamed: Our immediate focus is firmly on the UK, where we have identified around 400 locations with the potential to support a Chaiiwala over the medium-to-long-term. We are working closely with our existing multi-site franchise partners to accelerate that rollout, and the pipeline is strong.
Internationally, we are scaling in Canada, where we already have 23 sites, with ambitions to grow that to over 100 locations, and we are actively exploring new franchise markets including the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Europe is a market we are watching with interest for the longer term, but right now our energy and investment is concentrated on cementing our position in the UK and executing our existing international strategy. The foundations we are building today are what will make future European expansion possible.
