I want multiple households to benefit from my cafes: ‘Chaiwala’ Arshad Khan

Arshad Khan, more commonly known as chaiwala, the young and handsome blue-eyed boy whose photograph went viral on the internet in 2016 recently appeared as a guest on the Startup Pakistan Podcast.

The sixteenth episode of the podcast titled ‘From Tea Seller to Successful Businessman’ saw the host in conversation with the young entrepreneur as he detailed his life story, his overnight rise to fame, the media attention and job offers from the entertainment industry that resulted from his viral moment on the internet, and his eventual settlement into the status of a thriving business owner.

During the 42-minute episode, Arshad relayed the entire story of how he became famous and an internationally recognized face on that one fateful day when a photographer photographed him while making tea at a roadside tea shop. He also shared with the host his sentiments of confusion and disbelief as media personnel flocked to him for interviews following the mass-sharing of his picture on social media.

After dabbling briefly in the entertainment industry and working as a model and performer for some time, Arshad decided that a profession in media an entertainment was not for him. Instead, he channeled his inner entrepreneur and opted to capitalize on his fame by opening up a café. Arshad revealed that his biggest motivation behind opening his own café in Islamabad was to create job opportunities for people and empower them to run their households.

“One café would have been enough for me, but I launched a whole brand because I want multiple households to benefit from my cafes, not just me and my household,” stated Arshad when explaining his motivations behind creating a whole Chaiwala franchise.

“I was not motivated by the money aspect of business that I’ll launch a business and earn this much money from it. My thought process was that if I make one café, I will be creating a source of income and livelihood for 25–30 people. There is a huge lack of job opportunities in Pakistan, so I wanted to contribute in whatever way I could,” added Arshad.

In June 2023, Arshad Khan’s Café Chaiwala went international when it opened up the doors to its first branch based out of Pakistan and located on East London’s Ilford Lane. Locally, Café Chaiwala has a presence in Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, and Swat.