Cherise is associated with the M K Jokai group of companies, which is Parimal Shah’s family business and is owned by his father Kalpesh M Shah. M K Jokai is today one of the largest farmers of Premium Assam Orthodox Teas in the world and owns thousands of acres of tea plantations in Assam and West Bengal.
Being a tea sommelier, Parimal, Founder & CEO, Cherise India, wanted to automate the entire supply chain from Farm to Cup and present a safe, hygienic, authentic, and delicious cup of Chai and Coffee to the end consumer across India. Parimal says, “That’s what Cherise stands for – we bring Cherishable moments on-demand via our expertise in technology, farming, and ingredient science. Our vision is to become the “World’s Largest Farm to Cup eco-system”. Considering our decades-old expertise in farming, ingredient science, and our global exposure, this is something which we will be able to achieve within 5 to 6 years.”
Cherise is still a very young enterprise. Last FY was in fact the first year of active operations where the company clocked a modest turnover of Rs 6.17 crore. Parimal continues, “Though 2020 was extremely challenging on account of the Covid related lockdowns, by God’s grace and the work of our hard-working team members, we have already broken even and this FY we are expected to increase our top line by 100% while maintaining positive cashflows and posting a net profit.” 
The business has indeed been challenging because there is a very strong aspect of technology along with food and beverage science. Cherise has a state-of-the-art production unit that houses 3 laboratories for beverage R&D and 2 labs dedicated to the technology department. It has in-house teams of food technologists for the beverage departments and mechatronics and IoT specialists for the technology department. “Recruiting the right type of resources is always a challenge and we are always trying our best to ensure that we are working with the best talent available in the market. It took us 2 years to just set up our technology, our plant, and our formulations,” he adds.
Cherise products are 100% natural beverage formulations, which are vended through unique IoT & Android-enabled Vending machines and also sold online and offline. Cherise is now available across India via Amazon. The products are sold via its own Smart vending Eco system, via a network of regional and national distributors, and online. Cherise TAPRI Smart Vending machines are able to dispense a wide variety of Teas, Coffees, Milk, and Soups from the Cherise collection. Beverages like Mumbai Masala Chai, Delhi Adhrak Chai, Calcutta Elaichi Chai, Nagpuri Nimbu Chai, Bikaneri Elaichi doodh, Madras Coffee, Hyderabadi Tomato Soup are available on-demand from these vending machines. The company also has a very large assortment of premium Pyramid tea bags comprising an international range of Black and Green teas. Parimal shares, “We are now focusing on Ayurvedic formulations and Immunity boosters. We consider Cherise to be one of India’s most advanced & hygienic farm-to-cup ecosystems. We are farmers ourselves and we understand ingredient science very well. We are scheduled to enter the organised retail chains across India by the 4th quarter of this FY with our complete set of products.” 
Cherise is scheduled to go live on Amazon USA, Canada, UK, and UAE by the 4th quarter of this FY, and exports via its international network of distributors are also scheduled to commence then.
Outlining his future plans, Parimal says, “Our target in terms of sales is to reach an annual sales of 100 million cups by the end of FY 23-24. In terms of market reach, we aim to be present across India, distributors and retail chains across all major cities Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 will be stocking and selling our products. In terms of e-commerce, we are already present on the leading platforms like Amazon and Flipkart and we shall have completed the presence of Cherise products across all remaining platforms within the next FY. Our own e-store is currently under construction and we’re coming out with a very unique shopping and highly rewarding experience for our customers and our partners. This experience shall be app-based and we are scheduled to launch this app by the 1st quarter of FY 22-23.” 
The onset of Covid-19 and unexpected lockdown halted the production of tea and coffee. It resulted in severe disruption of logistics and supply chains across the country, which led to a mismatch in demand and supply. Parimal adds, “At the same time, people have become extremely health and hygiene conscious and they now require contact-less vending kiosks. This is where Cherise has been creating disruption in the market. Cherise TAPRI kiosks are fully contactless and come equipped with strong pest-repellant technologies built-in. Such things have never been seen in vending machines in India earlier. Due to this, we have seen very strong demand for our vending kiosks across the country. During FY 20-21, Cherise vending kiosks have sold over 3 million cups of teas, coffees, milk, and soups in the cities of Pune, Mumbai & Goa. With the beginning of this new FY 21-22, the company has entered Hyderabad, Nagpur, and Ahmedabad. By the end of FY 21-22, Cherise smart vending kiosks will be available pan-India.”
