Gyaan Sutra On entrepreneurship and technology

Kirkland’s Terra Bite Lounge is probably the only one of its kind. What is strange about this coffee shop is that it’s menu does not show any prices. Yes, customers pay what they feel like. And it seems to be doing really well, with a low-overhead business model and narrow profit margin they seem to have managed so far, and the owner feels they could go on.

I really hope they open up a franchisee in India too. Other than getting free coffee once in a while, it would be interesting to find out how well it does here. It would give us a pretty good indication about how much do consumers in India really want to pay for their coffee, and let the guys Barrista know about it, they really seem out of sync with their own market.

Talking about coffee shops, there is another one which instantly comes to mind. Right next to one of my friends house in DP road here in Pune, there is a small tea shop on the road close to Lush. Everybody in my friends’ house is a regular at the chai wala, and it doesn’t take too long to find out why. For Rs 2.5 you do get every paise of your money’s worth. And it’s not just these guys, lots of people get their hourly, or daily doses there, and it’s mostly bustling with activity.

So one fine day when we went there, we decided to ask the chai wala about how much he makes in a day. What we heard was mind blowing, he told us that he made close to 5000 a day, and I think I do believe the guy. One simple calculation tells me that it is close to 18.25 lakh per annum. Here in India, you can’t earn that much even with an engineering degree. Talk about being good at what you do.

That’s two, and I’m sure there are many others. So if there is one where you hang out, do let us know.

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