Irani chai now costs Rs. 25 amid rising costs

A cup of chai now costs Rs. 25 at most of the restaurants in the city after the restaurants owners decided to increase the price by Rs. 5 on a cup.

The hotel owners attribute the increase to hike in prices of tea powder, cooking gas, labour wages and other overheads recorded at the hotel.

“Prices of tea powder were increased by Rs.150 to Rs.180 per kilogram by the traders. This has forced the managements to increase the prices of tea,” said Mohd Amair, manager at Al Saba Hotel at Mallepally.

On an average, a hotel located at a prime location sells between 6000 to 8000 cups of tea. A few restaurants in the city that are popular for ‘Irani chai’, sell over 10,000 cups a day.

“A profit margin between Rs.3.50 and Rs. 5 on a cup of tea is mandatory to manage all expenses. Otherwise, we will suffer losses,” said another



hotel owner. The Irani chai in restaurants is served in 80 ml and 90 ml cups while at restaurants that have dining facilities, the beverage is served in 110 ml cup.

A restaurant uses anywhere between one and five bags of tea powder daily and each bag carries 30 kg of tea powder. “Prices of cooking gas, labour charges, milk prices and other miscellaneous expenses have increased so the hike was inevitable,” said Noman Ali, of Taiba Bakery and Cafe at Masab Tank, adding that tea powder prices also sky rocketed.

However, a few hotels are yet to take a call on increasing the price.

Abood Bin Aslam of Nimrah Café & Bakery said they so far have not decided on it. “It is true that price of ingredients have increased. I have also heard other hotels increased the prices and I don’t fault with them. So far we have not decided increasing the price,” he said.