Sajeev Thomas has been a private bus operator in Palakkad for most of his life, but the pandemic-triggered lockdown put a temporary stop to his livelihood. However, when life gave him lemons, Sajeev set out to make lemon tea. Sanjeev’s new venture, named Kattans (black tea), is an eatery in Palakkad that sells all kinds of tea as well as an array of Kerala favourites for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He opened the spot to primarily support his 20-odd staff members and help them earn an income.
Speaking to TNM, the 44-year-old says that he set up Kattans with absolutely no prior experience in the food business. But five months in, Kattans is successful and has carved a name for itself among Palakkad’s eateries for its fresh food and quirky decor, he said.
“In the beginning we served only tea, coffee and snacks such as Pazham Pori, cutlet and vada. But the people just kept coming back and then we decided to expand our menu a bit,” Sajeev says.
The tea stall now serves appam, puttu, egg curry and kadala, among others, for breakfast and then moves to parotta, beef (which is very popular), kappa, fish curry, chicken pollichathu, meals and biryani for lunch and dinner.
“Our USP is home based food and we don’t add any preservatives or additives even if they are approved for use by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Besides three people for cooking, everybody else is my staff, including kitchen help, servers, cashier etc,” Sajeev adds. All of them also draw a monthly salary with the revenue they make from the stall.
Another striking aspect of the shop is the interiors, which features caricatures of the greatest villains of Malayalam cinema. Guests can dine with Anappara Achamma (aka Philomena) in Godfather, the sneering Kulappulli Appan Thampuran (Narendra Prasad) from Aaram Thampuran, the deadly Rawther (Vijay Rangaraju) from Vietnam Colony, Ramji Rao (Vijayaraghavan) from Ramji Rao Speaking and Nicholas (Captain Raju) from the Mammootty-starrer August 1, as their images have been splashed across the teashop walls.
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“Instead of paying homage to heroes of Malayalam cinema, we decided why not do that for the greatest villain characters who will remain in the memory of every Malayali,” Sajeev added. There has been a row regarding creative rights of the caricatures, with an artist named Pencilashan taking to Facebook alleging that the hotel had copied his works without giving credit. However, Sajeev maintains that the drawings were done by a local artist pasted on the top walls.
Despite private buses plying once again in a limited way in the state, several of Sajeev’s staff are still looking after the tea stall.
“It feels good to help them in some way and help my staff earn their income. When people come back for more to our place, it genuinely makes me happy,” he adds.