Home of the Famous Lion Chai Latte

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Daniel Lewis, Founder of Daniel's Chai Bar, located in Vaughan, ON, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Daniel's Chai Bar is a quick-service tea cafe well known for over-the-top customer service and delicious hot tea and frozen beverages. Our brand is committed to changing how people see the world, using tea as a vehicle.

Our products are mainly purchased by 25-35-year-old females, who also identify as tea enthusiasts, cafe-cultured, coffee and tea lovers who love to support local and independent small businesses. Our 'people first' human-centric way of doing business is what attracts our customers to our brand and is also what makes them super excited to help us achieve our vision of becoming the world's most inspiring tea company.

Tell us about yourself

I've always believed that great businesses start with "WHY," and great people are driven by purpose. It was by this truth that I personally understood the meaning of success in my life. True success is achieved when one can harness the ability to impact people's lives in a positive way.

My main mission in life is to inspire and impact the lives of others in a positive way. Business, specifically a tea business, is one of the main methods or vehicles I chose to help bring about this mission.

I’m doing this for the person or the people whose path we cross, who could benefit from a little inspiration, a little conversation, a little human connection, a little pick me up, a little smile, a little motivation, a little cup of tea to help them feel better than before they interacted with our brand. I’m also doing this for my kids, my family, and the younger version of me, who so deeply benefited from the impact others had on my life by using their gifts and skills.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

One of my biggest accomplishments as a business owner was having the honour of serving my tea to King Charles III in 2017. (He was HRH Prince Charles back then, but still an "OMG" moment for the company and me). Just to make things even more epic, King Charles actually ordered more of the product a week later after our first encounter and even wrote my wife and me a letter expressing his appreciation for our business and our products two months after we had met. Truly a huge milestone in business for us.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner is determining what is the most important task for you to focus on. Although one may think it's obvious that the most important thing to focus on is sales and revenue, that's not exactly true, or at least it's not that straightforward.

At various times in your business, you'll have to effectively zero in all the most critical parts of your business to ensure its continued success. For example, if you want to improve sales, you may need to point your attention toward your staff. Training and company culture might be the most important element to accomplishing this goal. Or it might be product development or perhaps marketing and advertising. Every day there are a million moving parts, and deciding where to put your full attention can be very difficult.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Start small and don't accumulate a lot of debt during the early days of your venture. Debt is the number 1 killer for most start-ups.
Master something. A product, a skill, a process, etc. Be known as a Jedi for one thing before you start venturing into various products and services, and industries.
Read a lot of books and seek a lot of mentorships. You'd be very surprised to know what you can learn by just having a conversation with someone who has either done what you are attempting to do or has experience in a similar field or expertise. This kind of tested and true advice (which can also be easily found in a book) is priceless and can even save you thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars or help you to earn millions.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://danielschaibar.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamdanielca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdaniel.ca/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iAMDanielca
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-lewis-13511037/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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