A new tea-centered café has arrived in Overland Park.
Chai Café opened its doors toward the end of this summer in southern Overland Park.
Chai Café operates at 7908 W. 151st St.
- The café moved into a space on the east side of the Stanley Square shopping center, off 151st and U.S. Highway 69.
- Chai Café neighbors Freddy T’s Bar & Grill at the shopping center.
- It operates from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
The café serves signature chai and Indian cuisine
- Chai Café’s food menu ranges from smaller snacks like samosas and spring rolls to larger items like burgers, wraps and pizzas.
- As far as tea, the café serves five different types of chai, in addition to coffee drinks and lemonades.
- The café offers dine-in and a drive-up window for pickup orders.
- Owner Sam Rafay said the menu and the café’s concept as a whole was influenced by his hometown — Karachi, Pakistan — and the importance of chai to the culture there.
- “In our culture, chai is consumed like four times a day,” he said. “Whenever you go for a hangout, you’ve always got the chai. It brings different people together.”
Rafay wants to keep expanding the café
- Over the next few years, Rafay said he wants to eventually make Chai Café a franchise and open more locations further north.
- He also previously operated a food truck before opening Chai Café, and he said he’d like to open a “Chai Café Express” food truck with a more limited version of the café’s menu.
- His goal with opening this first location, he said, was to fill a gap in the Overland Park market — as he noticed the city had restaurants with Pakistani influences, but not cafés.
- “I was looking for something more lively, more vibrant and family-style, where we can stay open a little bit late to show cricket games,” he said. “That was missing in the city, so I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”
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