Aspiring lyricist tastes success with an eco-friendly tea shop
The Hindu
Dheena also sells black coffee for Re. 1 on every Monday to help the poor
“When you are doing something that many are already good at, you have to find ways to stand apart. So, when I realised that we were setting up a shop close to the beach, we wanted to go eco-friendly and generate as little waste as possible,” he says.
Initially, he bought quite a lot of cups and started his venture. Then, with time, he found it was not viable and simultaneously hired a few persons to make coconut shells exclusively for the shop. “Now, we use close to 60-70 cups in the shop a day. I hear it is also healthy for people to use coconut shells as cups,” he says.
Despite inflation and rising costs, in a small attempt to help the hungry, he offers black coffee for just one rupee a cup every Monday. “I am addicted to black coffee. So, initially when I set up the shop and saw many on the beach who cannot afford to buy anything to drink, I thought at least, I can provide black coffee for one rupee,” he says.
After his shop became a hit, he is now starting two more shops at Pammal and Purasawalkam where he plans to use bamboo cups. “With the competition in the market, we have to be different and pull a crowd,” he says.