A father-son team from Chalala, Gujarat, built a tea business with an annual sales of Rs 220 crore and 180 employees from a tiny supply store.
The firm produces 30 tonnes of tea everyday, offering nine varieties in quantities from 50g to 1kg and health teas including green and lemon tea.
Haresh Kathrotiya, who dropped out of college to help his father, Gordhan Bhai Kathrotiya, in the family company, launched Tulsi tea in 1999.
Chalala is a tiny hamlet in Amreli district, Gujarat, 296 kilometers from Gandhinagar.
In the Kathrotiya family’s supply store, which supplied sugar, oil, tea, lentils, and rice to the peasants, Haresh and his father saw a chance to build a tea brand and grow their company.
Haresh worked alongside his father at the company for a year after graduating from Class 12 at DP Patel Arts & Commerce College in Naroda, Ahmedabad, in 1995.
After enrolling in the B.Com program at KK Parekh Commerce College in Amreli, his father’s health concerns forced Haresh to focus on the family business, leading him to drop out after two years.
After that, Haresh worked 12–13 hours a day in the family store. He reconsidered the business around 1999.
“I told my father that I wanted to expand our business by creating a tea brand,” says 44-year-old Haresh. Our store sold loose tea from Amreli and Rajkot, so it wasn’t new. I wanted to go beyond selling tea in newspapers at the village shop.”
The father-son combination began packaging tea that came at their store in clear plastic bags and calling it “Tulsi” in 1999.
They leased an auto-rickshaw and sent someone to sell tea packets on commission to tiny villages within 15-20 miles of Chalala.
“I explained the system to that person and initially accompanied him a couple of times,” recalls Haresh. He worked alone for a year, visiting 8-10 communities daily. We marketed 50g tea packages first.”
By 2000, they realized their product was popular and needed a larger van to serve more communities in a day. They bought a Mahindra PikUp that year, starting their expansion.
Laminated pouches replaced plastic pouches the same year. By 2003, they had three automobiles that could go 50–60 km around their area after buying their second Mahindra PikUp in 2002.
By now, both enterprises were lucrative, and we kept funding Tulsi. “In 2004, we decided to close the store and focus on Tulsi,” recalls Haresh.
In 2005, they closed Chalala and moved to Amreli, 25 kilometres away.
Workers manually blended and packaged their new 10,000 sq. ft. factory in 3-4 months.
In Amreli, the Kathrotiyas rented a two-bedroom house and bought their fourth delivery van. By 2008, they served 400 villages from Junagad to Bhavnagar.
They expanded across Gujarat using a distributorship strategy and three product lines: Tulsi Gold Tea (premium), Tulsi (standard), and Vatan (economy).
“We came up with the green tea segment in 2017 and expanded to new states by entering Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan,” adds Haresh.
In 2014, the firm moved manufacturing to a 1 lakh sq ft automated facility in Bavla, Ahmedabad. Gordhan handles tea procurement while Haresh handles management.
In 2011, Gordhan and Haresh founded GM Tea Packers Pvt. Ltd.
Consistency in flavor, color, and scent is essential in the tea industry. We started in rural and semi-urban regions and followed the change-adapt-improve concept before entering the urban market.
“The rural market is where we have the strongest foothold and Tulsi is consumed by the masses,” says Haresh, describing their path from a little store to a big tea brand.
Haresh recalls his boyhood at their 200-square-foot local shop. “From the age of 9 or 10, I used to sit at the store after school and during summer vacations,” he recalls.
“I adored sitting on my father’s chair at the counter and serving clients water in the summer. My father taught me how to treat clients.”
Haresh and Manisha, a housewife, have two sons, Priyanshu, 21, and Mitanshu, 14. Priyanshu studies BBA at Narsee Monjee College in Ahmedabad. Priyanshu’s grandpa Gordhan Bhai is teaching him tea testing, which is crucial to making the ideal tea.
