Chai Sutta Bar Franchise Cost in India: ₹22–30 Lakh, a ₹2 Lakh Token and a ₹2.9 Crore FY25 Loss
Chai Sutta Bar states ₹22–30 lakh, a ₹2 lakh non-refundable token and 4% royalty. What it leaves out, and what its reported FY25 numbers say about the franchisor, in one read.
Chai Sutta Bar says the total investment is ₹22–30 lakh, depending on location and ambience, with a non-refundable token of about ₹2 lakh to book and a 4% monthly royalty on sales. All three come from the brand's own franchise page and FAQ. What it does not publish is the franchise fee, the agreement length or any outlet-level sales, and the company's own FY25 numbers, reported from Registrar filings, show a franchisor leaning hard on selling new franchises. Here is how to read the figure before you pay the token.
What Chai Sutta Bar publishes, and what it leaves out
We re-read the brand's franchise page and FAQ on 11 November 2026 and checked them against the Chai Sutta Bar listing.
| Item | What the brand says |
|---|---|
| Total investment | ₹22–30 lakh, "starting from INR 22 Lacs" |
| Token to book | About ₹2 lakh, non-refundable |
| Royalty | 4% of sales per month (gross or net not stated) |
| Model | Franchise owned, franchise operated |
| Training | 15–20 days for staff at company outlets |
| Franchise fee amount | Not stated on the current page |
| Agreement length, renewal, territory | Not stated |
| Outlet sales or profit | Not stated |
The page also gives the order of events: token, a visit from the R&D team to finalise the shop, fit-out to the brand's standards, agreement signing at the Indore head office, staff training, then raw materials and machinery before opening.
Does the ₹2 lakh token count toward the ₹22–30 lakh?
The FAQ calls the ₹2 lakh token non-refundable and does not say whether it is counted inside the ₹22–30 lakh. Ask for that in writing. If the token sits outside the range, your real minimum is nearer ₹24 lakh before any working capital, and the brand does not itemise what the range covers.
A franchise fee the current page no longer puts a number on
The current franchise page describes a franchise fee as a non-refundable sum for renting out the brand name for an agreed period, but gives no amount. An older post on the brand's own blog is more specific: a franchise cost of ₹6 to 12 lakh within a ₹20–30 lakh investment. That post carries no date, and its range starts lower than the current page. Treat ₹6–12 lakh as a question to put to the brand, not as a price.
The same post says the ROI averages 108%.
It gives no sample size, period or method, so it is a marketing line and not evidence of what a franchisee earns. If that were an annual return, an outlet would pay back its full investment in under a year, which a brand should not assert without showing the outlets behind it.
What 4% royalty costs at three sales levels
The royalty is the one recurring charge the brand states. These sales figures are examples to show the arithmetic, not Chai Sutta Bar data.
| Example monthly sales | Royalty at 4% | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| ₹2 lakh | ₹8,000 | ₹96,000 |
| ₹3 lakh | ₹12,000 | ₹1.44 lakh |
| ₹5 lakh | ₹20,000 | ₹2.4 lakh |
Because the brand does not say gross or net, ask whether GST and discounts are taken out first. Also ask which supplies you must buy from the company, since the page says the company provides raw materials and machinery and does not state whether you may buy elsewhere.
What the FY25 numbers say about the franchisor
Startuppedia, citing financial statements from the Registrar of Companies, reported in March 2026 that Chai Sutta Bar's FY25 revenue fell 28% to about ₹5.9 crore from ₹8.2 crore, and that it swung to a net loss of about ₹2.9 crore from a profit of about ₹51 lakh in FY24. Expenses rose 17% to ₹8.8 crore. The article says "the company" and does not name the legal entity, and we could not open the filing itself, so this rests on one press report.
The breakdown is the useful part. Of about ₹5.7 crore operating revenue, franchise sales were ₹2.5 crore, nearly 44%, product sales ₹2.16 crore, and royalty only ₹1 crore, about 19%. A franchisor earning most of its income from signing new franchisees, and far less from ongoing royalty, depends on keeping that pipeline full. That is a reason to ask what support continues after opening.
One piece of arithmetic is worth doing, with care. ₹1 crore of royalty at 4% corresponds to roughly ₹25 crore of sales. Against the 650+ outlets the brand claims worldwide, that is under ₹4 lakh a year per outlet. It does not mean outlets sell that little: royalty may not be booked for every outlet, the claimed count includes outlets abroad, and the company's accounts are not a franchisee's accounts. It means this filing cannot tell you what an outlet earns, and nobody should quote it as if it could. Treat it as a reason to ask the brand for royalty statements from three working outlets in your city, not as a verdict on the chain.
Other things to check before signing
The 650+ outlet count is the brand's own claim. Its locations page lists only 8 outlets, so we could not check it against a full list. The Chai Sutta Bar name also sits across more than one company. Chai Sutta Bar Private Limited, incorporated in January 2018 in Indore, appears on the trademark record, while a separate Chai Sutta Bar Trading Private Limited was the party in a dispute over the "MAATEA" tea mark, where the Supreme Court allowed it to withdraw its petition in September 2026. Check which entity signs your agreement.
If you are comparing chai cafe models, Pandharpuri Chai, Tea Time and T Vanamm publish their own, much smaller investment figures, while Chhotu Maharaj lists a wider range; each listing shows the figure and the source it was checked against. See the full Chai Sutta Bar listing for the evidence behind every line above.
Questions franchise buyers ask about Chai Sutta Bar
How much does a Chai Sutta Bar franchise cost? The brand states a total investment of ₹22–30 lakh plus a non-refundable token of about ₹2 lakh. It does not say what the range covers, so ask for an itemised quote for your city.
What royalty does Chai Sutta Bar charge? Its FAQ says franchisees pay 4% of their sales per month. It does not say whether that is on gross or net sales.
Does Chai Sutta Bar publish what an outlet earns? No. There are no outlet-level sales or profit figures on its pages, and the 108% ROI claim in its blog comes with no sample or method. Ask to speak to current franchisees and see their monthly sales before you commit.