Bonding over two common interests, i.e., tea and traveling, Sonali and Minakshi, two friends, always aspired to start something that would let them have the best of both worlds. The duo had been working in the NGOs for about six years, and they didn’t realize how an innovative idea was brewing in their subconscious minds during these years. And call it a coincidence that the said NGOs have a strong culture of offering tea.
“We felt the need to switch the culture of offering tea to an alternate option. That’s how after tasting tea in a lot of local areas around Udaipur, we came up with the idea of running a tea stall on Minakshi’s Scooty and named it – ScooTea. The aim was to bring the taste with health and to continue our traveling journey,” the duo shared while speaking to Life Beyond Numbers.
Through their unique start-up, they want to convey that women can travel and earn by selling a product palatable to their tastebuds while bringing health benefits to everyone’s lives.
From January 8th, 2022, until February 15th, 2022, they continued serving their special tea in Udaipur. It was followed by distributing samples in one of Mumbai’s apartments and Delhi until March.
Sonali hails from Madhubani, Bihar, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Mass Communication and Masters in Culture and Media Studies. Her work experience includes profiles as a development professional with different NGOs for six years and ten years as a freelancer. Currently, she is working as a consultant. “Bodh Tulsi” is another venture by her that is in the pilot phase. Whereas, Minakshi is from Sriganganagar, Rajasthan. She, too, holds a BA and MA degrees in Culture & Media Studies. Akin to Sonali, she has spent around six years as a development professional with different NGOs.
“I have also worked at a tea stall in Sawai Madhopur as a cook and worked at a sweet shop in Jaipur,” Minakshi says without having qualms about it.
One of the USPs of their business is their scooter. It draws attention spontaneously. But procuring it was a task. Getting a scooter custom-made was more than a challenge, and the process needed thorough brainstorming.
“Hoping to get inspiration from cart stalls, we resorted to online mediums. Meanwhile, the search was also for a creative and cost-efficient wielder. Luckily, I came across one to create our needs by considering all sorts of situations. It took about three months to get it custom-made,” informs Minakshi.
Their struggle didn’t settle there.
Traveling with the scooty has sometimes been challenging, primarily due to people’s rash driving. However, one of the significant setbacks was the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown. Similarly, they witnessed that most youth groups stereotype tea and label it as something not tasty. Nevertheless, one by one, they are learning the trade tricks.
They have defined their roles and responsibilities to ensure they don’t land at loggerheads. Ideation and recipe are their shared responsibility. Macro-management is Minakshi’s zone, and it covers the selection of area, costing, etc. Meanwhile, Sonali handles micro-management and communication and social media handling.
For financial support, they took the assistance of crowdfunding from their circle of development professionals and got Rs.11,000, and their business took off. They don’t have any funder now, hence bearing the expenses from their pockets. Support from a funder can be of great help.
Currently, they are serving one variant of tea and charging only Rs.5 and Rs.10 per cup, making it affordable for all classes. They have taken the inspiration from their grandmother’s saying of how Tulsi is something that needs to be consumed every day. After trying different types of tea in their kitchen for about six months, they finalized ScooTea.
“ScooTea has been our source of pride as it brings caffeine-free and sugar-free Tulsi tea, which has a refreshing taste,” the duo says in unison.
India is one of the highest consumers of chai, especially the one with milk and sugar. How successful have they been so far in reversing this ritual?
In reply, the two businesswomen say that the success initiated from a change in their habit of consuming this tea variant and switching to ScooTea. As a case study, they also roped in two neighboring households who started taking ScooTea once a day, and they even got a few regular customers. They believe it will be a gradual process to see substantial results.
Women selling tea on a scooter – what kind of responses have they been receiving while breaking stereotypes?
“Surprisingly, people generally praise and bless us, especially after tasting our tea. Nevertheless, sometimes, we also get to hear how long we will stand on a road; it is better to rent a shop to run it comfortably. Very rarely few men tried to cross the line by making marriage proposals. We have always anticipated such situations. Hence, we reply firmly yet politely. Sometimes, we feel that most people visit us because of our gender. They buy a cup of tea out of pity, thinking about how two young women are selling things on the road. But the best part is the moment they drink it, their expressions change from pitiful to worthy,” the young women share.
Like them, many women might be bubbling with ideas. One shouldn’t hold herself back and procrastinate. They firmly believe that action is the best teacher.
“As women, we have the right to do what we love and can skill ourselves by pursuing it. Nevertheless, be careful with external factors such as a bad environment. But don’t let it cage your carefree spirit. Take the most traveled to least traveled roads in this lifetime. To thrive financially, always calculate every single money spent and earned and profit made. It is the yardstick to analyze your hard work,” they advise aspiring women entrepreneurs.
The road ahead looks brighter as they aim to take ScooTea to different cities and understand how it caters to the people’s needs. They have marked their presence in Udaipur (as seller), Mumbai, and Delhi (as samples distributors and feedback collectors). They want to create their niche in every place irrespective of caste, class, gender, and religion, as ‘tea’ has been the uniting factor.
So if you are in Udaipur or planning to visit soon, don’t forget to taste the ScooTea.