LONDON – Two brothers have opened the second branch of a popular and viral Pakistani tea brand called “Café Chaiwala Arshad Khan” in Tooting, South London in the exquisite Pakistani cultural settings.
Since opening the first branch in East London two years ago, Arshad Khan Chaiwala is going from strength to strength and he’s set to open a third branch soon after Ramadan in West London.
Tooting branch has been opened by two brothers Asif Khaliq and Yousuf Khaliq who are originally from Karachi and have several medium sized businesses in the South London area including food shops and snooker clubs. They said: “We have invested over £250,000 in our Pakistani chai brand not just to be profitable but to contribute for the promotion of Pakistani culture and Pakistani brand. Café Chaiwala Arshad Khan perfectly sit in that paradigm. He’s known all over the world since becoming an internet sensation. He is a brand ambassador of Pakistan. We decided to open the café in Tooting because there is a large, growing and successful Asian community in this area and they were looking for an authentic Chai and street food outlet.”
Asif Khaliq and Yousuf Khaliq said dozens of Chai cafes were opened by Indian and Pakistani businessmen in the UK after Arshad Khan’s story became public in western and Asian media but many of them stole the concept and didn’t give the due credit to the man behind the sensation. Asif Khaliq and Yousuf Khaliq said this was a Pakistani street tea seller who hit global headlines and made the Chai popular.
With a large-sized picture of Arshad Khan Chaiwala covering more than half of the wall on the main street, visible to thousands of passersby daily, and Arshad Khan’s branding all over inside the café, the brothers have installed Pakistani chai and truck arts all over the place including a mini library of Urdu books for the chai and street lovers who traditionally sip tea and read books or newspapers. The café serves around a dozen various Pakistani chais and several versions of popular Pakistani and Indian street foods including parathay, tikkay, aaloo kebab, biscuits and lassi.
Just nine years ago, Arshad Khan was a poor teenager selling chai at an Islamabad roadside stall (dhabba) with no prospects of a prosperous and luxurious life given the circumstances he was in. Not in his wildest dreams he would have imagined that one day he will become a social media sensation at the global level, a fashion icon, a brand and a franchise owner with footprints in a place like London. The chai seller was 16 back in October 2016 when photographer Javeria Ali made his casual picture while he was serving tea to a customer and she put it on her Instagram with the caption: “Hot Tea”.
Arshad Khan’s striking looks, blue eyes and haunting seriousness on his face shot him to overnight fame. He found out that he had become a sensation when children, men and women started swamping the dhabba where he worked to make pictures with him and soon he was all over social media, on the magazine covers and television crews started airing his story. After going viral, Khan, who is originally from a conservative Pashtun family living in Mardan, was nicknamed “Chaiwala” and that’s where the brand name comes from.
