A 28-year-old Pune woman has brewed up a hot new trend from the comfort of her own balcony, earning a monthly income of ₹1.2 lakh by hosting intimate ‘sunset chai experiences’—no MBA, no investors, and not even a food delivery app in sight.
The recipe? Start with a humble 2BHK balcony (size: 4×9 ft), add 6–8 guests per session, serve them a mix of traditional teas and homemade snacks, sprinkle in personal and local stories, and price the whole package between ₹1,400 and ₹2,000 per person. She runs 3–4 of these sessions every week—proving that, sometimes, the best business plans are the ones your accountant never sees coming.
Marketing budget? Zero.
Her customer acquisition strategy relies on Google Maps, Instagram reels, and the trusty grapevine of word-of-mouth.
According to Nitin Attri, whose LinkedIn post propelled her story into the viral sphere, “People come for chai, but stay for the stories, the city view, and the break from their screens.”
No cloud kitchen, no swiping—it’s exclusive offline warmth, not hot air.
As the city sunsets spill gold over a cluster of steaming cups, guests rediscover the joys of undistracted conversation—possibly even remembering each other’s names, rather than Instagram handles.
She’s leading a broader movement with urbanites from Rishikesh to Kochi cooking up homegrown balcony gigs: art, poetry, music, and even live cooking demos. The balcony, it turns out, is not just for drying laundry—it’s a cultural micro-hub. Forget Dalgona coffee—it’s all about community in 2025.
The internet is split. Many praise her for reviving authentic offline social experiences:
“Are we getting back to the good old days?”
While others question the business’ scalability:
“Why pay ₹1,500 to drink tea on someone else’s balcony?”
For some, the concept is refreshingly sincere; for others, a sign that start-up fever has finally boiled over.
Is this the future of weekends—a chai-fuelled escape from screens, spreadsheets, and algorithmic anxieties?
One thing’s clear: the only cloud involved in this business floats elegantly outside the balcony, lit up by a Pune sunset. And unlike digital trends, the only thing viral here is the aroma of homemade snacks—and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of envy from your MBA friends.
