We all love Indian street food but most of us are running after momos, pizza, and burgers. What about our pani puri, chaat, bhalle, and other dishes? Our new generation is the least familiar with the dishes we grew up eating. Yet this is not something we should bother about but one person did get bothered with it. And this unrest made him a crorepati.
The Chatpata Affair café chain started before the pandemic in 2020 and now earns a revenue of Rs 8 crore/year and has 50 outlets across India. Inspired by the street food flavors of Indian food and sweets, Shiju Pappen from Gurugram founded The Chatpata Affair.
| Startup Name | The Chatpata Affair |
| Founders | Shiju Pappen |
| Industry | Food and Beverages |
| Company Classification | Private Limited |
| Headquarters/based-in | Bengaluru, Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Idea | To popularize Indian street food, provide quality and hygienic Indian street food. |
| Revenue | Rs 8 crore in FY24 |
| Date of Commencement | 2020 |
| Investments | Rs 5 lakh |
Competitors: Juice Hub And Snack And Chat, Jst Popcorn, Sri Venkateswara Hot Chips, Snackk Box, Sparkling Snacks Bar, Goli Vada Pav, and more.
The Problem: Why Does This Matter?
Indian street food is losing its essence and identity. The younger generation is more familiar with burgers, momos and other fast food items rather than our street food like pani puri, bhel puri, aaloo chat, and numerous other dishes. Moreover, the growing unhygienic behaviors of street food sellers are making it more worse as a majority of the population do not prefer such food.
Shiju aims to highlight Indian street food by emphasizing regional vegetarian delicacies without compromising hygiene. He wants us to have a food experience which is both accessible and upscale.
Moreover, he wants Indian street food to become the king in front of pizzas and burgers on a global scale. Indian street food is losing its identity among the flood of foreign street/fast food like pizza, burger, momos, noodles, and more.
Shiju comes from a small town in Rajasthan and lost his parents at a very young age. Thus, he had to start earning very early. In 1997, he moved to Delhi for work and started as a team member at Pizza Hut.
The Solution: The Chatpata Affair
In 2020, Shiju laid the foundation of The Chatpata Affair, with an investment of Rs 5 lakh and a small team, handling multiple responsibilities from cooking to customer services. Moreover, initially, he kept only a few items on the menu.
With almost 200 items on the menu from breakfast to dinner, The Chatpata Affair menu items include fusion dishes like bhalle chaat, papri chaat, sandwiches, chaat, shakes, rolls, etc.
The Journey Before
His prior job included everything from cleaning the restaurant and dishes to serving the customers. More or less, everything that was required to manage the restaurant. While earning 5k to 6k/month, it was difficult to cover up his expenses.
After 2 decades of working, completing his education, and gaining experience, he became the CEO of Southern Fried Chicken and managed the business operations internationally. But the urge to launch his own venture never died down.
Business Model: How Do They Make Money?
Now turned into a food chain, The Chatpata Affair’ prominent locations are on Church Street, Chennai, Gurgaon, Nanganalur, Bangalore, and Ambience Mall, along with some universities in Hyderabad and more.
Shiju’s Bangalore food venture works on both model, franchisee and company-owned. Out of 50 locations, 10 are company-owned and 40 are franchisees.
Growing slowly in its initial 2 years, The Chatpata Affair’s revenue was around Rs 2 lakh/month with only 2 outlets. But considering this, it was more than what most earn.
Each setup occupies around 200 square feet of area with an investment of around Rs 5 to 6 lakh. Mostly these outlets are either kiosks or carts and monthly profits range between Rs 60k and 70k. Moreover, there are 200 employees’ team working at this food venture.
After that, when it ventured into the franchisee model, it grew more than anticipated. In the financial year 2023, the outlets’ revenue skyrocketed to 6 crores and in 2024 it is Rs 8 crore.
Challenges/Struggles: What Roadblocks Are They Facing?
During the pandemic, starting a new business was more than just challenging. Moreover, the surge in rent rates made it more difficult to rent a space and ultimately Shiju had to opt for a mobile cart model to begin with.
Typical street food style though!
Starting with a small team it was difficult to manage different operations related to the food business. However, Shiju overcame these challenges as he has worked in all these departments. His early-stage experience helped him in kicking these challenges in the face and move forward.
Future Vision: What’s Next?
By the end of March 2025, the food venture aims to reach around 100 outlets and by 2027 to 500 outlets; aiming for a revenue of Rs 1000 crore by 2027. Moreover, Shiju plans to expand across the Middle, the US, and Europe but with food quality and hygiene remaining the main priority.
Key Takeaways: Why Should Users Care?
From Shiju, we should learn to be resilient irrespective of situations. Yes, there are chances of failure and sometimes we might have to take a step back. But we should learn from our mistakes.
- Be a learner.
- Be resilient.
- Focus on your goals.
- Do not give up because of your background.
- Do not run after shortcuts for success.
- Be patient and believe in organic growth (those customers will stay).
- Anyone can achieve their dreams.
- There is nothing wrong with aiming for something big.
- Dream big, achieve big.
Do not run after shortcuts for success.