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What workedA tea shop owner in Sherpur, Bogura, in a Prothom Alo report

A 10,000-taka loan, and 1,000-1,200 cups of tea a day

A tea shop opened about 35 years ago on 10,000 taka borrowed by his father now sells 1,000-1,200 cups a day at 5 to 60 taka a cup, and paid for a three-storey house costing 35 lakh taka.

This tea seller's father borrowed 10,000 taka about 35 years ago to open the shop in Sherpur, Bogura. He learned the trade from his father and worked at the counter from childhood before taking it over. The shop now sells 1,000-1,200 cups a day, getting through one to one and a half maunds of milk tea, at prices running from 5 to 60 taka a cup - day labourers and better-off customers served side by side. Four people work there, and several who learned the trade in the shop now earn 800-1,000 taka a day of their own. The earnings paid for a three-storey house costing 35 lakh taka. A single cup returns very little; the whole arithmetic sits in the number of cups.

Lessons

  1. 1.A tea shop's economics are volume, not margin: 1,000-1,200 cups a day is what funds a house
  2. 2.A price ladder from 5 to 60 taka a cup lets one shop serve labourers and better-off customers at the same counter

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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