THE HAPPINESS FRAMEWORK

Last week, I attended the Vator Splash event, where I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos (sold to Amazon.com in 2009 for $1.2 billion). While his talk was mainly about building Zappos and the company culture within, it was the last 5 min of his presentation that really inspired me. He talked about the science of happiness and referred to one such framework, where he defined 3 levels of happiness as Pleasure, Passion, and Purpose. 

 Most of us, most of the time, seek happiness by pursuing things that give us pleasure. This kind of happiness is short-lived as such happiness cannot be sustained beyond the existence of the stimulus. The next level of happiness comes from pursuing your passion; this tends to last longer. The longest-lasting happiness, studies show, comes from a higher purpose – this is about being part of something that is bigger than just yourself. Tony went on to state that great companies are built on a similar framework – Profits, Passion, and Purpose. 

 When I started Green Coriander, I defined the purpose of Green Coriander long before I made a financial model show me how to make a profit (which is still an ongoing exercise). My purpose is to educate and encourage people to i) eat better ii) understand the sources of their food and iii) support sustainable food systems and lifestyle. 

 We provide a service that allows our customers to eat foods from good sources and empowers them with a choice if they love Indian food. The purpose stems from my passion for doing what we can to preserve our health and protect our environment. The purpose of The Chai Cart is rather simple - it is to deliver wholesome goodness in a cup. My belief is that if we remain true to our values and work hard to improve every single day, profits will follow. I also believe that by aligning passion with a purpose, happiness can be achieved with small pleasures in life. 

 Thank you, Tony for laying out a great framework – you indeed did live up to your goal of “Delivering Happiness”.

A NEW LIFE, A NEW WORLD

The Magic Carry Kart and the Creme Brulee cart - carts by the two brothers who started the street food phenomena in San Francisco - are planning their 1 year anniversary next week on March 6. And with my birthday approaching in a couple of days, I paused to think about the last 12 months. The Chai Cart is almost 7 months old. 

My present life or rather my lifestyle bears no resemblance to my life before I started The Chai Cart. I quit my job in December '09 and started a new venture, Green Coriander - San Francisco's first and only home delivery service for healthy and organic Indian food. There is no dearth of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, the mother ship of tech start-ups, and VC firms. There are hundreds of books, blogs, stories, articles, etc written on how to build a successful start-up. All of them geared towards creating the next Apple, Google, Facebook, or Zynga. 

Seven months back, that was my world. Entrepreneurship meant starting an internet-related service or product company. The Chai Cart opened my life to a whole new world. A world where customer service means a smile, not a call center; where lowering costs means saving an extra 5% on raw material, not cutting down on business class travel or lavish parties; where success is defined as being able to meet payroll and pay rent, not options worth seven figures. 

In this new world, I have met some of the most amazing people. And for the first time, I truly understand the meaning of the word "community". I often get emails from people around the world asking me for advice on starting a similar chai or food stand in their city. The first thing I say is - if you are doing it for money, then don’t do it. The food industry isnt the most profitable one. I take The Chai Cart out because I love hanging out with my food cart friends and love meeting people who stop by. 

I started Green Coriander because I passionately believe that we all should eat fresh, unprocessed foods and support a sustainable food system. 

 Life as an entrepreneur is not easy, yes we all heard that. Sleepless nights, crazy hours, personal sacrifices - life literally becomes a roller coaster. The only way you can pull through the lows and enjoy the highs is you inherently believe in yourself. your convictions and choose to follow your inner passion.

It's here! The perfect cup of Masala Chai!

Chai in the US has almost become synonymous with "Masala" Chai - a concoction of black tea with many different spices like cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, etc. I have never been a fan of Masala Chai - it’s either too peppery or too gingery or full of cloves. When I drink Chai, I want it to first taste the tea and then let the flavours, either ginger or cardamom or whatever, dance around my mouth till the next sip. Most of the time when I have a Masala Chai, I get hit by a burst of spices and I am left thinking "where is the tea?" 

 A lot of the Chai mixes one can buy (online or in stores) as well as the Chai found in most cafes are all various blends of "Masala" Chai - setting the expectation that Chai is meant to be spicy. The lone Chai Cart couldn’t fight that expectation. I had to cave in and do a Masala Chai - but it had to be one that I enjoyed drinking. 

Riding on the success of the Green Chili Chai, I thought it would be an easy task - throw in all the spices together and there you have it - Masala Chai. The first time I made it, I had to force myself to take the second sip. Yes, it was so bad. I blamed it on the old spices in my cabinet and made a trip to the Indian store in Berkeley to buy some fresh Indian spices. But that didn't help much. I had no such excuse for the second try, third try, or the fourth. I tried various combinations but each time I found one spice dominating. 

Just as I was about to give up in frustration, on a cold, rainy night, it all came together - that perfect cup of Masala Chai. I instantly fell in love with the complexity. On the first sip, I could taste the cardamom; with the second sip, the cloves and the hint of black pepper; there was definitely ginger in the next sip along with the cardamom, and the sweetness coming the cinnamon. The spices were perfectly balanced with the tea. 

 Is it weird to fall in love with one's own chai? Is it narcissism or is it a passion for perfection? I don’t judge. I drink chai and I sell the chai I love drinking.

Green Chili Chai - Another Winning Flavour!

If you've been to The Chai Cart, you know that I always carry two flavours of chai - one is always the traditional Cardamom-Ginger and the other depends on my mood and my creativity that particular day or week. 

Every now and then I come up with a flavour that surprises me and my customers. Lemongrass-Black Pepper chai was one such flavour last summer. The Malt chai took a few tries, but it did find some fans. 

The week I made a "hot" new flavour - Green Chili Chai and this seems like a clear winner. A few people have asked me how I come up with my flavours of chai. I simply let my creativity explore and lead me to various combinations of fresh herbs and spices. But there are a couple of guidelines I follow. If you notice carefully, I tend to combine 2 distinct tastes like Mint-Aniseed, Rose-Pepper, etc. The flavours are subtle and nothing ever overpowers the chai itself. 

 I am always looking for new ideas for inspiration. So, if you think of any flavour that may do well as a chai, drop me a note. I will name that chai flavour after you and who knows - maybe someday you may become famous as well ;)