Every day, as evening sets in, Johar Town’s main Khayaban-i-Firdousi road comes alive and wears a festive look when over a dozen similar-looking cafes/restaurants on either side of the boulevard switch on their multi-coloured lights and live qawwali enthralls customers. By the looks of it, almost all of these outdoor food outlets seem to have been inspired by roadside dhabas in Karachi, but the similarity ends right there -- these restaurants only have ‘chai’ or ‘tea’ in their quirky names such as Chai Tonight, Chai Rock, Chai Studio, Cup Shup and Hum Tum aur Chai to name a few, but, in fact, are full-fledged restaurants with elaborate menus instead of following the dhaba model of tea and snacks.

However, people are drawn to these places for their affordable food, outdoor seating, vibrant ambience and live music, in some cases. All of the owners claim they offer a safe, friendly environment because of which a majority of their customer base comprises families, that they cannot afford to follow the low-profit dhaba model and they named their businesses so to make it catchy.

Usman Javaid, the owner of Chaye Qawali, claims when he launched this business in 2019, the combination of food and qawwali was novel at the time and was later plagiarised by almost every set-up that followed. “Our daily qawwali performance has given this genre of singing a new life and that’s what customers are attracted to. Majority of our customers are families because of our friendly environment,” Javaid told Dawn. However, he says, the only downside to not having an indoor set-up is closing up shop during harsh weather and rains.

Chai Khas opened its doors the same year in 2019. Claiming to be one of the pioneers in the area, it is now among the dozens of similar joints within a radius of just a few kilometres – many of which saw Covid-induced lockdowns as an opportunity to come up with outdoor dining spaces.

“We were probably the fourth or fifth on this road back then. Earlier, people used to go to expensive cafes for both continental food and tea/coffee, but now they have plenty of affordable options in a pleasant ambience. Many of such outdoor outlets were launched during Covid when indoor dining was banned. We were also the first ones to introduce tandoori chai in this locality, but now besides our selection of teas, our steaks and pizzas are also appreciated,” Fahad, the restaurant manager, told Dawn.

Not all these chai-themed restaurants play live music, especially qawwali, to attract customers, some are sustaining with just easy-on-the-pocket food. Fahad, a media graduate managing the restaurant, says a few of the neighbouring places have qawwali, but not Chai Khas. “I feel people come here to sit in peace with no music or noise disturbing them. Tea fans want to have their favourite drink in a calm environment. The atmosphere here is appealing for families especially.”

Muhammad Umair Afzal of Chaye Ghar is more realistic with his take on the trend of such eateries on the same road. He says when he started his restaurant in 2018 it was the third on this particular stretch of the road. But, he confesses, he also joined the rat race, as do a lot of people in the food industry without planning or research. “This trend started back in 2017 after which everyone followed, including me. Despite over 20 such outlets on the same road, similar ones are still popping up whether they sustain or not. People who have no knowledge of the industry and costs involved enter this business without any research and most did so during Covid when indoor dining spaces were shut.”

Despite following a tea stall theme, he says their food, especially continental, is more popular than the range of teas. “We have a good, peaceful ambiance. Instead of having live music daily, we organise fortnightly or monthly events like a qawwali night, dhamaal night, drum circle or other musical events.”

These restaurant owners admit high expenses and profits were the major concern that led them to deviate from the dhaba theme and introduce complete, wide-ranging menus. “We have 150 items on the menu under different categories otherwise we can’t break even with just tea and paratha as is the case at dhabas,” says Javaid. Fahad echoed this notion, saying they had to add food as they couldn’t sustain because of so much competition around and high utility bills to pay.

Dozens of competing businesses in the same vicinity affect these entrepreneurs in different ways: for some it’s healthy and for others each day is a struggle. Afzal says having around 25 similar cafes on the same road hasn’t hurt them much because this way a market develops and customer base increases. Fahad says they had to struggle for the entire first year because of the rivalry, but now they have loyal customers.

More than competition, all three of them are unanimous that Covid-19 inflicted a lot of damage on the restaurant industry, rendering many businesses shut and incurring losses of millions. And the most recent factor disturbing them is rising inflation. “We have heard the price of tea leaf is increasing by 21 per cent on the 15thof this month, which will affect our costing and subsequently footfall,” laments Javaid of Chaye Qawali, something that Afzal of Chaye Ghar also admits to.

Fahad, the Chai Khas manager, bemoans a lot of cafes have closed down because of inflation, tough competition and dwindling number of people to populate such spaces.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2022