Maitri Amruttulya: How Four Friends Built a 600+ Outlet Tea Brand from Ambernath
In 2019, four middle-class friends from Ambernath, Maharashtra, came together with a simple observation.
India loves tea, but many traditional roadside tea stalls were still operating in unhygienic environments, with inconsistent preparation and little attention to cleanliness.
They believed something as everyday as a cup of tea deserved better.
That belief gave birth to Maitri Amruttulya.
Today, Maitri Amruttulya has grown to 600+ outlets across more than 500 cities and 12+ states in India, while continuing to focus on the same idea with which the journey began:
Fresh, hygienically prepared and consistently great-tasting tea at an affordable price.
Four Friends. One Idea.
Maitri Amruttulya was founded by four friends:
Surendra Desai
Vaibhav Vadavale
Vasant Sakpal
Sagar Desai
All four came from middle-class, working-family backgrounds in Ambernath.
None came from an established business family.
They were working professionals who wanted to build something of their own.
The idea was not born in a corporate boardroom.
It came from observing the tea stalls around them.
Tea was consumed everywhere, but hygiene, cleanliness, presentation and consistency were often overlooked.
The four friends saw an opportunity to change that.
And because the business itself was born from friendship, there was an obvious name for it.
Maitri.
In Marathi, Maitri means friendship.
The name therefore represents much more than a brand.
It represents the relationship between the four founders that created it.
The First Maitri Amruttulya Outlet
The first Maitri Amruttulya outlet opened in Ambernath in 2019.
Years later, that first outlet continues to perform well.
But the founders never intended Maitri to remain a single local tea shop.
Their ambition was to create a system that could reproduce the same Maitri taste irrespective of whether the customer was drinking tea in Ambernath, Maharashtra or another part of India.
That created one of the most important challenges in the business:
How do you make thousands of cups of tea across hundreds of outlets taste the same?
Maitri’s Answer: Make Tea by the Clock
Tea preparation can easily become inconsistent.
One employee may boil it longer.
Another may add more sugar.
Someone else may add tea powder earlier or later.
Even small differences can completely change the final taste.
Maitri therefore developed a standardized preparation system.
At Maitri outlets, preparation follows a timer-based process.
The process specifies when the masala should be added, when the tea powder should go in, when the measured sugar should be added and exactly when the gas should be switched off.
The milk-to-water ratio is also standardized.
The ingredients supplied to outlets are pre-measured, including:
Maitri tea blend
Tea masala
Sugar
Packaging and serving materials
This reduces guesswork at outlet level.
Whether an experienced employee or a newly trained employee prepares the tea, the objective remains the same:
The Maitri cup should taste like Maitri.
A Tea Blend Made Specifically for Maitri
At the centre of the product is Maitri’s proprietary tea blend.
The blend has been developed specifically for Maitri Amruttulya and is manufactured and packed through specialized manufacturing arrangements.
The tea operation is based in Ambernath, where Maitri also operates its own packing and quality-checking setup.
Batches are tested for consistency before being supplied to the network.
The company follows FSSAI requirements and laboratory testing procedures as part of its quality-control process.
This combination of standardized ingredients and timed preparation allows Maitri to maintain greater consistency across a rapidly expanding franchise network.
22 Tea Varieties — But Tea Remains the Hero
Maitri today offers 22 varieties of hot and cold tea.
But there is an important philosophy behind the brand.
Maitri does not want to become a restaurant that happens to sell tea.
Tea remains the core product.
Franchise partners are free to sell locally suitable complementary items such as snacks, packaged foods, cold drinks and other products according to demand in their area.
But Maitri itself continues to concentrate its product-development effort on tea.
The philosophy is simple:
Do one thing exceptionally well rather than lose focus by trying to become everything.
An Affordable Cup with Simple Economics
One of Maitri’s core objectives has always been affordability.
A regular Maitri tea is priced at approximately ₹12 per cup.
The approximate direct making cost is around ₹5 per cup, leaving approximately ₹7 per cup before outlet-level expenses such as rent, salaries, electricity, wastage, taxes and other operating costs.
Maitri deliberately communicates this distinction.
A ₹7 difference between selling price and direct making cost should not be confused with ₹7 of final net profit.
The actual earnings of a franchise depend on multiple factors, including:
location, customer footfall, rent, staffing, operating hours, local competition and most importantly, the involvement of the franchise owner.
Maitri does not believe in selling franchises through unrealistic profit promises.
What Can a Maitri Outlet Sell?
Actual sales vary considerably by market and location.
Based on experience within the Maitri network:
An ordinary performing outlet may sell around 300 cups per day.
A good outlet may sell around 500 cups per day.
A high-performing outlet can reach approximately 1,000 cups per day.
These figures are examples from the network, not guaranteed sales figures.
Maitri believes franchisees should evaluate every proposed location on its own merits rather than assuming that a franchise name alone will guarantee business.
A Low-Investment Franchise Model
The Maitri franchise model has deliberately been designed to remain accessible.
The approximate opening investment is:
**₹2.5 lakh for setup
- approximately ₹50,000 recommended working capital**
And Maitri currently charges:
No franchise fee
No royalty
No marketing fee
No software fee
No renewal fee
This allows more of the entrepreneur’s capital to remain invested in actually building the outlet.
Essential Maitri products such as tea powder, masala, sugar, cups, uniforms and packaging can be purchased from the company according to outlet requirements.
Lifetime Franchise and Territory Protection
Maitri provides a lifetime franchise arrangement under its applicable franchise terms.
The company also maintains approximately 2 km of territory protection between outlets, and this protection is incorporated into the franchise agreement.
This policy exists for an important reason.
Expansion should not come at the expense of existing franchise partners.
Opening multiple Maitri outlets too close together simply to increase franchise numbers would weaken the individual outlet economics.
The objective is therefore to build the network while respecting existing franchise territories.
Support Does Not End After Opening Day
A franchise relationship should not finish after a signboard is installed.
Maitri provides franchisees with:
Initial training
Outlet design assistance
Opening support from a Maitri executive
Product and preparation guidance
Ongoing operational support throughout the year
Initial operational training can be completed within a day because the preparation process itself has been designed to be straightforward and standardized.
The system is intentionally kept simple so franchise owners can train employees quickly and maintain consistency.
600+ Outlets Across India
From one Ambernath outlet in 2019, Maitri has expanded to 600+ outlets across more than 500 cities in 12+ states.
More than 150 outlets were added during the last 12 months alone.
The journey, however, has also taught the company important lessons.
More than 100 outlets have closed over the years for various reasons, including lack of owner involvement, insufficient response in particular locations and changing franchisee priorities.
Maitri does not hide this reality.
No franchise business succeeds merely because a board bearing a known brand name is installed outside the shop.
Location matters.
Operations matter.
Customer service matters.
And the franchise owner’s involvement matters.
The company therefore prefers transparency over exaggerated promises of guaranteed sales or profits.
Growing Without Fake Promises
One principle has remained important throughout Maitri’s expansion:
Do not attract entrepreneurs using unrealistic profit figures.
Maitri believes that its responsibility is to provide a strong product, standardized system, training, operating support, territory protection and a recognizable brand.
The responsibility of operating the outlet successfully remains a partnership between Maitri and the entrepreneur.
This philosophy may be less glamorous than advertisements promising extraordinary monthly earnings.
But it is how Maitri wants to build long-term franchise relationships.
From Ambernath to Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 India
Many national brands concentrate heavily on metropolitan cities.
Maitri sees an enormous opportunity beyond India’s largest metros.
Tea is universal.
A quality tea outlet does not need to exist only in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi or Bengaluru.
Maitri’s long-term ambition is to establish a presence across Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 cities in every state of India.
The company believes smaller cities deserve the same hygiene, quality, consistency and organized tea experience as larger metropolitan markets.
The Next Milestone: 1,000+ Maitri Outlets
Maitri has grown from four friends and a single Ambernath outlet into a network of more than 600 locations.
But the founders still consider the journey to be at an early stage.
The next objective is to cross 1,000+ outlets within three years, while continuing to expand into new cities and states.
The ambition is not to copy another tea brand’s journey.
Maitri intends to create its own.
The focus will remain the same principles with which the first outlet was created:
Cleanliness.
Consistency.
Quality.
Affordability.
Transparency.
And friendship.
Because Maitri started with friendship.
And every cup served since then has been part of that journey.
Maitri Amruttulya
Started by four friends.
Built around one cup of tea.
Growing across India.
For franchise and business enquiries, visit the official Maitri Amruttulya website.