The new partnership will see the opening of a drive-thru and shopping centre café within the next month, creating a diversified city footprint with broad appeal across all dayparts
12th November 2025: Chaiiwala, the UK’s leading Indian street food café brand, is delighted to announce plans to open a new drive thru and shopping centre cafe in Nottingham in partnership with new franchisee Splendid Hospitality. Splendid Hospitality, which operates 38 franchised KFC restaurants in the Midlands and North East, has also assumed the operations of Chaiiwala’s existing high street location in Nottingham.
Founded in Leicester in 2015, Chaiiwala is known for its authentic and carefully brewed Karak chai and unique, high-quality street food bursting with traditional flavours. Over the past decade, the brand has grown significantly to operate over 100 cafes in the UK, more than 20 in Canada, and a handful in Dubai.
The openings in Nottingham will help quickly establish the brand as a leading destination for delicious high protein dishes across all dayparts. Alongside its existing cafe, this will create a diversified footprint in Nottingham, with one high street location, one shopping centre and one drive thru. The new partnership with Splendid Hospitality will also support Chaiiwala’s expansion drive throughout Nottingham and the Northeast.
This will not only serve a variety of the city’s consumers at different times of the day and purchasing opportunities – from a chaii on–the–go from the drive thru to catching up with family and friends for breakfast on the high street – but will also act as a blueprint for Chaiiwala’s franchise expansion across the UK. Over the next 10 years, Chaiiwala is aiming to scale to at least 500 cafes across the UK and sees opportunities to replicate the approach in Nottingham across other towns and cities.
The new openings build upon a period of commercial and strategic progress for Chaiiwala. After closing FY24 with system sales up 35% to nearly £90m, the Group has continued its momentum in 2025 and recently announced the opening of its latest store in Hayes as well as the launch of its first motorway services location at Watford Gap services. Over the Autumn/Winter period, Chaiiwala is aiming to open at least six additional stores.
Sohail Ali, Co-Founder of Chaiiwala, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Splendid Hospitality on board as our new franchisee in Nottingham. Splendid are a fantastic, proven operator of franchised brands, share our ambitions for scaling Chaiiwala, and have already hit the ground running with two new openings. These new locations complement our existing high street store, which is also now within Splendid’s operations, and enable us to make delicious Indian inspired street food and world class karak chaii even more accessible across all dayparts.
“We also believe our expansion in Nottingham can serve as a blueprint for future growth and see opportunities to replicate this model with a high street, drive thru, and shopping centre location within other major cities. As we scale up and realise our ambitious expansion plans, this model will prove invaluable.”
Nadeem Boghani, Executive Chairman of Splendid Hospitality, said: “We are delighted to partner with Chaiiwala, a truly distinctive and fast-growing brand that has redefined the casual dining and café experience for a new generation. At Splendid, we are always looking for opportunities to collaborate with dynamic partners who share our passion for hospitality, quality, and innovation.
Launching our first three Chaiiwala restaurants in Nottingham marks the beginning of an exciting journey, and we look to developing this vibrant, community-focused concept.”
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The new drive thru and café are located at:
- 76-78 Castle Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 1FP
- Unit R5a, Victoria Centre, Nottingham, NG1 3QN
Press contacts
Alex Brennan / Andy Richards / Jackson Redley at Hudson Sandler LLP
Chaiiwala@hudsonsandler.com
+44 (0)20 7796 4133
About us
Founded in Leicester in 2015, Chaiiwala is the UK’s leading Indian street food and café brand.
At more than 100 sites across the UK, 20+ in Canada, and a handful in Dubai, Chaiiwala serves authentic and carefully brewed Karak chaii and unique, high-quality street food bursting with traditional flavours. Its fresh and high-protein meals make Chaiiwala highly accessible throughout the day – from egg roti wraps in the morning to Bombay Bowls and Toasties throughout the day and a compelling sweet treat and dessert offering in the evening. Group sales are split evenly between food and drink, with more 100m+ cups of chaii served to date.
A focus on authenticity is central to the brand. Chaiiwala makes its dishes from closely-guarded recipes inspired by Indian home-cooking. In addition, adhering to Fair Trade principles which focus on job creation and building communities, the Group partners with dedicated tea gardens in Assam, India, which grow, pick and craft its tea to serve authentic and high-quality chaii tea to consumers at a variety of destinations, from local high streets to key retail destinations such as shopping centres and drive-thrus.
Led by its three co-founders, Chaiiwala is executing an ambitious expansion strategy to scale up to 500 global locations over the next 10 years. This includes significantly expanding its footprint in the UK and Canada with its existing multi-site franchisees, and exploring new international markets, including the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Find out more: https://www.chaiiwala.co.uk/