Melissa Edyvean & Martin Buggy - Bondi Chai
It all began in Times Square…
Interview with Bondi Chai co-founders, Melissa Edyvean and Martin Buggy
A holiday in the US, mainly to watch the ball drop on the new Millennium in New York's Times Square, proved to be a serendipitous launch pad for Bondi Chai creator and owner Melissa Edyvean. A staunch non-coffee drinker, Melissa was delighted to happen upon a sensational new tea-based, latte-style drink during another part of the holiday in Washington, DC. The drink's name was a quirky as the drink itself, but 'chai latte' was to change Melissa's life. Several months after returning home to Australia she and partner, Martin Buggy, had decided that chai latte was going to be the next big thing in Australia's café culture and they wanted to be a part of it. With no food industry experience and an unheard of product, they set about introducing the 'chai phenomenon' to Australia's unsuspecting café industry.
Almost 2 decades on their own product, Bondi Chai, is the most-awarded, and one of best known and best loved brands in Australia. Bondi Chai is sold in thousands of cafes around the country and into thousands more in other countries including Europe, China and South-East Asia – even being sold in high-end hotels across India and featuring on the menu of Barista Café, one of India's largest café chains – a remarkable 'coals to Newcastle' achievement. These days, someone is enjoying a Bondi Chai Latte somewhere in the world, every two seconds!
We spoke with Melissa about her journey thus far – and what the future holds for Bondi Chai…
FFW: Why the name ‘Bondi Chai’?
BONDI CHAI: We lived in Tassie when we created Bondi Chai so we can’t make any claim to Bondi Beach. But everyone knows Bondi Beach and when they think of it they think “fun, sun and the great outdoors” and we wanted our product to call up those images and emotional links.
We also wanted Australians to know that our product was as Australian as it gets – knowing that most of the US brands would soon be in Australia.
As well, export was always part of our plans and we wanted to ensure our product piggy-backed Australia's good name in the food industry overseas.
And finally, Bondi rhymes so well with chai, so the name had a nice ring to it that people would remember easily and would be happy to ask for by name.
FFW: You offer 3 flavours: Vanilla Honey, Club Cinnamon and Ginger n Spice. Which do you recommend to people who are unfamiliar with chai or who didn't like other brands they've tried?
BONDI CHAI: We call our Vanilla Honey our ‘entry-level chai’ and usually recommend people start there if they don't know chai latte. Club Cinnamon is our ‘chai drinker’s chai’ and many people who start with Vanilla Honey ‘graduate’ to the stronger, more robust flavours of Club Cinnamon. Our latest variety, Ginger n Spice, was developed primarily for the dairy-free market and also happens to be vegan-friendly. But it's got a real ginger 'punch' with it and is popular with seasoned chai drinkers.
Vanilla Honey really comes into its own in flavouring for desserts and iced drinks and smoothies.
FFW: How does Bondi Chai differ from other brands?
BONDI CHAI: We have three customer groups: wholesalers, café owners and consumers and we wanted Bondi Chai to deliver maximum benefit for each.
Our distributors benefit through the high margins, low handling/storage/delivery costs and ease of handling.
Our café owners benefit from association with Bondi Chai's premium reputation, it's ease/speed of preparation, great profitability.
Adding Bondi Chai to the menu is like lifting coffee sales by at least 10% - most café owners would kill to get that kind of growth in beverage sales.
And Bondi Chai fans don't just like our product, they love our products, and in a world where brand loyalty is almost non-existent they quickly become 'rusted on' and will drag their coffee drinking friends to those cafes that have their fave chai latte.
Our single serve sachets are also hugely popular with chai drinkers who want to drink it at home and at work.
And finally, Bondi Chai ticks all the 'healthier option' boxes like gluten free, low fat, low caffeine, no trans fats and no 'industrial nasties' like fillers, emulsifiers, colours etc.
FFW: How important do you think chai is in the hot beverages market?
BONDI CHAI: It's important to note that the beverage that has stormed on to the Western café menu in this country is "chai latte", a variant of India's 'chai masala' made with steamed, frothy milk, and not the so-called "chai tea" with which the tea industry has tried to join in the 'chai latte phenomenon'.
Chai latte is the only truly ‘new’ hot beverage to be added to the café menu in decades and gives café owners and customers some great menu extension options. Chai latte has already surpassed hot chocolate in our café culture, though no-one should get too carried away, it's still a long, long way from making a serious dent in coffee and tea consumption.
When we launched chai latte into Australia in 2001, few people knew anything about this "crazy new drink" and lots of people waited to see if it was going to have ‘legs’. These days, it's obvious that chai latte is here to stay… every café now simply has to have it on their menu.
Chai latte is an important option for non-coffee drinkers who at some level feel 'on the outer' with their coffee-drinking friends in the café and a 'kiddies' hot chocolate only deepened that feeling. Chai latte does challenge coffee and tea more strongly as an afternoon/evening drink even for coffee/tea drinkers when they are 'caffeined-out' but still want a hot, frothy, sweet milk drink.
FFW: What do you think chai’s role is in the marketplace?
BONDI CHAI: Chai latte definitely fills a gap that café owners didn’t even know existed and these days can’t ignore. The ‘coffee revolution’ left in its wake a huge pool of people who were reduced to drinking ‘un-sexy’ flat tea or ‘kiddies’ hot chocolate if they wanted to hang out with friends at their cafe. They were happy enough having a laugh and catching up with friends, but there was always a niggling feeling that at some level they were 'on the outer'.
Along comes chai latte – a sweet, frothy milk drink just like a café latte or a cappuccino, but with a delicious aroma and flavour – and suddenly these people don’t feel like the feather duster anymore; now they’re the rooster. They instantly fall in love with chai latte and tell all their friends – but then they hit a snag: the recipes for chai latte are almost endless and no two chai latte brands taste the same with the differences ranging from unbelievable to undrinkable!
So now they have to hunt for a café that sells a great chai latte. And here’s where it becomes very important for the café owner – once a chai latte drinker finds a café selling their preferred chai latte brand they drag (physically if they have to!) their friends to that café. So the café owner smart enough to choose a great chai latte doesn’t just win a new chai zealot, they also win another two or three coffee drinkers. It’s really not rocket science and we first saw this in the US, but a lot of café owners in Australia haven’t woken up to this fact yet… if you want to lift your coffee sales, get a great chai latte!
FFW: How does Bondi Chai differ from more traditional chai offerings?
BONDI CHAI: Chai latte is based on India’s national drink, chai masala and the number and types of spices and teas that are used creates literally thousands of permutations. Recipes in India vary almost from village to village and there is a huge variety in tastes, mouthfeel and overall satisfaction. For several years before we created Bondi Chai we imported a US brand and had the good fortune to be able to watch and learn as the product exploded over there. We saw what worked, what didn’t work and had some very clear ‘footprints in the snow’ to follow. So when we created Bondi Chai we blended out the short-comings we’d found and blended in all the things we knew most chai latte drinkers preferred. That’s why we went for a powdered pre-mix that was concentrated, made without industrial nasties and was milk-soluble to ensure a phenomenal creaminess – all attributes that would appeal to the widest possible range of people. For the café owner, we wanted to make sure our product was profitable from day one, was fast and easy to make without any particular skills and consistently produced a superb drink that they would love to serve.
Bondi Chai has a reputation now as the ‘gold standard’ in chai latte and having sold it into India itself we're pretty confident that we got the formula right and all the effort was worth it.
FFW: Is it true that you sold Bondi Chai in India? Where else are you triumphing?
BONDI CHAI: A few years ago, when Lavazza Coffee owned one of India’s largest café chains, Barista Café, they adopted Bondi Chai as their 'official' chai latte in India. With that platform as a base, our distributor at the time also sold Bondi Chai into several smaller café chains in India, one of which had outlets in Kathmandu. And some of the most prestigious hotels in India (and the world) were also selling our product, for example the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi offered Bondi Chai in the hotel cafes, through room service and in their uber-exclusive Oberoi Patisserie & Delicatessen which is one of those fabulous venues where “if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it!”
Over the years we have exported Bondi Chai to most parts of the world including the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and the UK. We’ve also sold product into countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Mauritius. The pandemic of course decimated many of our export markets, but we continue to service many countries in Europe and will soon release Bondi Chai into a range of prestigious hotels, delicatessens and café chains throughout China.
We recently calculated that somewhere in the world someone orders a Bondi Chai Latte every two seconds!
FFW: Does Bondi Chai boast health virtues?
BONDI CHAI: While we didn't set out to create a 'health drink', our insistence on using only the best ingredients meant that the finished products hit virtually all of the "health cues" that have emerged over the last two decades. For example, Bondi Chai is certified gluten free. It's also low fat; low caffeine (about the same level as a green tea), has no trans-fatty acids, no artificial sweeteners, colours or ‘industrial nasties’ (eg emulsifiers, whiteners, thickeners or anti-caking agents. Bondi Chai has been recommended by nutritionists for serving in aged-care facilities, hospitals and schools.
FFW: How are your foodservice clients serving Bondi Chai, other than in its hot beverage format?
BONDI CHAI: We never cease to be amazed at where our product has turned up. In India we’ve seen whole cold-drink menus based on our product – from smoothies, to frappes, to straight iced. We’re also seeing an increasing number of chefs using it in desserts – virtually anything with a cream or custard base works wonderfully well.
One of Australia's largest cake makers now sells a Bondi Chai cake and we are currently working with a number of other food/dessert/cold drink manufacturers.
FFW: What benefits are there for foodservice operators to use Bondi Chai?
BONDI CHAI: Its three main advantages are excellent yield/profitability, simplicity/speed/consistency of preparation and consumer loyalty (Bondi Chai literally sells itself).
Bondi Chai yields at least $450 per kilo (100 cups x $4.50) – most other pre-mixes deliver only half that yield.
It’s simple and fast to make – just add powder to cup or glass and stir while pouring on steamed milk or, for the absolute best results, add to milk in the steaming jug, steam and pour. Bondi Chai will attract/reinvigorate new chai latte drinkers who have perhaps given up on chai latte based on experience with other recipes/brands – remembering that these new chai latte customers bring their coffee-drinking friends with them.
And, of course, café owners can be very proud to serve our product: it’s Australian-owned, is the most awarded, premium+ quality product of its kind in the country and finally and it’s backed by the experience and strong marketing support of the brand owners!
FFW: What does the future hold for Bondi Chai?
BONDI CHAI: We intend to build on Bondi Chai's excellent standing in Australia's café culture.
Now approaching two decades in the market, earning accolades and awards and a strong, loyal following, the product has proven itself and it’s time to grow brand awareness.
We recently added a new flavour to the range – Ginger n Spice – a dairy-free, vegan-friendly option and we're aiming to release new packaging formats and develop some exciting co-branding opportunities. Export markets remain a key part of our growth strategy and we're right now turning up some incredible opportunities in several countries.
FFW: What would the ultimate accolade be for you?
BONDI CHAI: We’ve already had some amazing accolades for our product: people like Nicole Kidman, HRH Princess Mary of Denmark, Ricky Lee Coulter, Lavinia Nixon have all told us how much they enjoyed Bondi Chai. Eddie McGuire declared it to be the best chai latte in Australia on his brekky show a few years ago (no we didn’t pay him, but we did send him a complimentary pack for his kind words). We used to say that when our product was sold in India we could say that we’d “made it”, but we’ve ticked that box.
Winning the NSW Micro Business Of The Year Award was a highlight of our business career, being awarded the SE Asian Food and Beverage Company Of The Year in Shanghai was another amazing highlight.
But I think we still get the biggest buzz when someone calls us at the office just to say thanks for making Bondi Chai and how much they love it!
In a twist on a well-used coffee expression, we’d like to remind readers that: “Life is too short to drink ordinary chai”. Clearly, Bondi Chai delivers far more than flavour and sensory pleasure. High profit margin, Australian pride and ease of preparation are all significant reasons to start serving Bondi Chai to your customers, or stocking it in your retail store.
Bondi Chai Club Cinnamon and Vanilla Honey are available in 1kg and 200g foil packs and boxes of 100 sachet sticks. Bondi Chai Ginger n Spice sells in 500g packs and single serve sachet sticks. Contact Bondi Chai for sample packs to learn for yourself why Bondi Chai, a home-grown international sensation, is the perfect product for your business too.
