CHENNAI: Tea shops across Chennai city have increased the price of a cup of tea from Rs 10 to Rs 12 and a cup of coffee from Rs 12 to Rs 15 to offset expenses incurred by rising cooking-gas and milk prices. The last time prices of the hot beverages were increased was in January 2019.
Chennai metropolitan area has 3,500 tea shops, each of which consumes 3-15 litres of milk a day. In addition, medium and large hotels, too, sell tea and coffee. According to T Ananthan, president of Chennai Metropolitan Tea Shop Owners' Association (CMTSOA), the price hike is inevitable given that the price of commercial cooking gas has increased by Rs 1,000 a cylinder since 2019.
"In January 2019, when prices of tea and coffee were hiked, a 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder was sold at Rs 1,200; the price is now Rs 2,250. Similarly, prices of full-cream milk by private companies have increased from Rs 54 to Rs 66 a litre in the past three years," said Ananthan.
A small tea shop that purchases five to seven litres of milk from private companies a day thus incurred a loss of Rs 2,00 a day in the past few months. The association, however, has left it to individual shop owners under it to implement the hike.
The loss suffered by selling tea is mitigated by the sales of other items in the shop, said Kannan, a tea-shop owner in Korattur who added that wages of tea-masters, too, have reached Rs 600-700 a day in Chennai.
"Tea shops are mostly set up alongside a petty shop that sells cool drinks, snacks, and other items. The consumer will spend at least 8-10 minutes at the shop only if we sell tea, which increases the sale of other products," he said, adding that selling tea only is no longer a profitable business.
In Tiruchy, however, tea and coffee already cost Rs 12 and Rs 15 a cup respectively. "Most of the shops under our association increased the price of tea to Rs 12 and coffee to Rs 15 in January. If increase them further, we would loss at least 50 per cent of our customers. Therefore, we have decided to not hike the prices further as of now," said Abu Hassan, president of Tea Shops Association in Tiruchy.
A price hike will come into effect in Madurai as well. Both tea and coffee will cost Rs 15 a cup from Wednesday, said Meenakshi Sundar, secratary of Madurai Tea Shop Owner Association. Coimbatore District Bakery owners Welfare Association President R Ponnusamy said they are yet to decide on hiking tea and coffee prices.
(With inputs from Jose K Joseph , S Senthilkumar and MS Thanaraj)