Hasan Minhaj Spills the Tea On Why His Big Kolkata Chai Co. Investment Is Personal

Hasan Minhaj didn’t necessarily plan to add investor to his already burgeoning resume. Instead, the opportunity presented itself in a cup of smooth, spicy chai.

Nine months after his first sip of the Kolkata Chai Co.’s signature blend, the Daily Show alumni has gone from a devoted customer to the brand’s second-largest stakeholder and business partner, with an undisclosed but significant investment.

Sitting down with ADWEEK, he was crystal clear this wasn’t another perfunctory celebrity ambassadorship but rather an opportunity to bring South Asian culture into the mainstream and lean on his storytelling chops to give chai its “matcha moment.”

“There’s a groundswell of love for the company, the brand, the community that they’ve built that spoke to me,” he said. “Not only do I want to be a part of this… I believe in the founders, I want to put skin in the game and be part of it,” he said.

The brainwave of brothers Ayan and Ani Sanyal, Kolkata Chai started life as a café in New York’s East Village in 2019. The hotspot had a single mission: to serve up authentic Indian masala chai to Americans in all its steaming, aromatic glory. It offered an antithesis to what it described as the “bastardized” version sold by corporate coffee chains.

By 2022 the startup had secured $1 million in funding. Marketing rooted in community and innovation — soft serve chai ice cream giveaways, a collaboration with buzzy New York eatery 7th Street Burger, having Hasan serve drinks at its Williamsburg opening in May — has driven growth quickly.

It now counts three locations across New York and operates a flourishing online business, where patrons can buy its signature mix, gift boxes, and recipes.

The latter accounts for the bulk of its revenues, and as it plots its it’s eyeing a broader product range and a deeper move into the CPG space.

Friends recommended Minhaj check out the brand’s eponymous hangout for years. However, between writing and filming two Netflix specials (the third is pending), securing a role in the film It Ends With Us alongside Blake Lively, and co-founding production company 186K Films, he never quite made it.

When his wife walked into their Manhattan apartment in January with a Kolkata Chai Co. starter kit Minhaj had a mug, “fell in love with it,” immediately found Ani’s number online and quickly arranged a “meet-cute.”

“I [started] to think if we worked together, I [could] help in different ways and — like I do in my comedy career — take authentic stories from my community from the margins and to the mainstream,” Minhaj said.

From the margins to the mainstream

Minhaj has spent his career illuminating niche narratives for an American audience. Like the Sanyal brothers, he’s a first-generation immigrant, born to Indian parents. Much of his comedy is hinged on personal experiences growing up in a predominantly white small town, with the occasional searing political takedown thrown in.

In this economy, the lines between celebrity, investor, and entrepreneur are increasingly blurred. 2024 has brought a slew of A-list brand launches from the likes of Beyoncé and Minhaj’s co-star Lively. Elsewhere, Kim Kardashian and Ashton Kutcher have made moves into the world of venture capital.

As he gears up for his own first CPG venture, meaningful collabortion is everything.

“You often see celebrities do ‘white label’ deals, they’ll give their name and likeness to an arbitrary product — whether it’s an energy bar or a beverage,” he said. “For me, this is about me investing in two people I’ve seen bring a beautiful part of my culture from the margins to millions of people across America.”

He’s already started amplifying the brand, lending his creative insights and production talents to a satirical social video riffing on the many “fake holidays created by ad executives” Americans observe, from National Green Juice Day and Cyber Monday.

In the spot, Minhaj christens Sept. 21 National Chai Day, which coincides with the brand’s fifth anniversary. It will celebrate with a classic NYC block party and pop up in cities across the U.S. including Washington D.C. and LA.

Minhaj, with help from the 186K team, approached the work like any other scripting assignment and was deep in the weeds of the Google Doc, said Ani Sanyal.

The comedian wanted to subvert expectations with the first collab. “That’s part of the language of comedy, some of the best ads do that,” Minhaj said.

A recipe for success

The ready-to-drink tea market is expected to be worth $72.9 billion by 2033, with a CAGR of 8% over the next decade, per Fortune Business Insights.

However, while Indian and South Asian food culture is ubiquitous in Western markets such as the U.K. (where chicken tikka masala is a national favorite), it’s still nascent in the U.S. fast-casual market. Both the Sanyal brothers and Minhaj want to change that.

“The demographic trends in the US have changed so much that we’re ready to embrace different cultures and cuisines,” said Ani Sanyal.

He added that Minhaj’s undisclosed investment and involvement could eventually help the business “own the entire South Asian-inspired CPG space.”