Tea Club is a premium Bahraini Tea house with ambitious plans to become a global brand. In an interview with Startup Bahrain, Fayyadh Al-Doseri co-founder of Tea Club talks to us about their startup journey, challenges and future plans.
Q: Tell us about yourself.
My name is Fayadh Al-Doseri, a 31-year-old ex-banker, who studied computer science and multimedia & design. I am the executive chef and co-founder of Tea Club.
Q: What was your startup journey LIKE?
The idea started small, with a tea shop in 1993 called Bahrain Tea Center in Adliya, which was run and managed by few family members. Unfortunately, the shop closed down in 1995 as not much attention was devoted to the business.
In 2005, the idea was revived with a concept of a real worldwide franchise that could compete at an International level. We started jotting down various design elements, brainstorming different concepts and doing a lot of research on our core product. Our slogan was “Tea, the new lifestyle”. When we started looking for a location, we were rejected by Seef Mall because we weren’t an international brand! Our first shop opened in Exhibition Road in Manama. We began testing new things, developing new concepts and learning from our daily operations. That small shop was the launch pad to our success today.
Q: Starting a business with family members is a tricky decision; how did it go?
It was extremely challenging, since most arguments found their way back home. Splitting responsibilities was one of our biggest challenges; everyone was involved in everything, but that was eventually resolved when we realized that I’m not as good of an accountant as my mother, and that I’m a better cook than she is. With things clearer and responsibilities evenly split between us, we found things much easier to handle. Today, we are reaping the benefits of the trust between us, as mother and son operating a business together.
Q: Why specialize in tea?
Tea is a universal drink, with billions of passionate drinkers all over the world. The demand for tea is always there, but the places offering our favorite drink are severely lacking.
I studied in in Seattle, Washington, the birthplace of Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee, but I could never enjoy a cup of coffee. I started a massive hunt for the best cup of tea in town, but couldn’t find one. When I came back to Bahrain, the situation was even worse. I found that the connection between coffee drinkers and baristas is not there, not to mention the quality of the drinks. The only thing that was bringing them together was not the place, but the drink itself. The other thing I observed is that apart from coffee, almost everyone in this part of the world drinks and enjoys tea.
Today, we offer more than 60 types of high-quality tea to please and overwhelm tea lovers with choices they’ve never had before. Some of these types are secret recipes that we made out of the best ingredients available.
Q: What’s the secret behind Tea Club’s success?
Tea Club’s secret is in front of anyone who walks into any Tea Club branch. It’s the glamor, fantasy and luxury the place offers at an affordable price. The passion we demonstrate in our operations and to our customers is something that can hardly be copied.
Q: Are you planning to expand beyond Bahrain?
Yes, we are. As we speak, we are racing against the clock to open our first international branch in the capital of the world, Dubai. We were privileged to smoothly enter a leading market and obtain a premium location in the city overlooking Dubai Fountain. This will be the first step in establishing our franchise worldwide.
Q: How will you ensure quality after franchising?
In a few words: training, clear standards and manuals for everything. We have created a franchise management system to control every aspect of the franchise, and right now we are setting up a global franchise office for the brand with some of the world’s best teams.
Q: your greatest challenges?
In Bahrain there are three types of challenges that you have to overcome. First is emotional negativity, second is the non-systemic rules and regulations for business, and third is the shortage of staff caused by the obstacles we face in obtaining visas and recruiting people. It took us over a year to finish the visa requirements for our second branch! Anyone else would have closed down before they even opened the shutters.
Q: Tea Club seems to embrace technology in an unusual manner. How important is technology to you?
We had to come up with a solution to tackle our shortage of staff all year long by embracing new technologies to save time on our customers. We had to contact IT developers all around the world, and our shops in Bahrain housed the world’s first system of its kind. We were willing to take the risk of managing hardware and software, but didn’t want to lose our customers. Our waiters are equipped with a handheld device to take the order from the customer and send it directly to the staff in the back to prepare it, streamlining the billing and accounting process along the way. The solution was costly, but it was designed specifically to ensure the full satisfaction of our customers.
The use of social media played a big role in establishing the brand. Our interaction with customers enabled us to refine and perfect the experience in ways we couldn’t do alone.
Q: What do you think of Bahrain’s entrepreneurship environment?
Frankly, it was like walking through a minefield full of obstacles and outdated rules and regulations. We found the environment in Bahrain underserved in a lot of respects. On the contrary, we had a very smooth experience in Dubai that we wished we had here while establishing Tea Club.
Q: Did you have any financial support from any organization in Bahrain?
We had to manage the financing aspects ourselves by leveraging family members to be able to start and expand without another distracting stakeholder to take care of.
Q: Where do you see Tea Club in the next five years?
We aspire to become a global brand known everywhere for our passion for tea. Our first steps were taken by establishing ourselves in Bahrain, and were continued by our first branch in Dubai. Due to our success in establishing the brand there, we were honored to receive our first international award a few days ago –and this won’t be our last.