Great coffee, basic quick eats, a few healthy snack options: this is what Kaapi 2.0 is all about. The café, that now has seven outlets in the city with three more in the pipeline, was started by city-based Sathyan Balamanickam as a lockdown experiment in 2020. With 15 years of experience in the food industry, the 36-year-old was faced with uncertainty when the pandemic hit.
“I wanted to start something on my own for another source of income,” says Sathyan, seated at the rooftop of the latest addition to his chain near Anna Silai on Avinashi Road. A minimalistic café seemed like something that would work, and Sathyan gave it his all. “My focus was on offering healthy options to munch on with tea and coffee,” he says. His first outlet — his most successful one till date — was at Vadavalli.
Sathyan started Kaapi 2.0 as a franchise model in mind. “I have people from all walks of life running our outlets,” he explains. “This includes an HR manager who quit his job to do something on his own, an IT couple who wanted a second income, and a homemaker keen on setting up an all-women outlet.” Sathyan in fact, has 50 people working for him, a majority of whom consist of women.
Among Kaapi 2.0’s most popular offerings are the kozhukattais: there are sweet ragi and savoury red rice versions. We try both with piping hot filter coffee: the ragi kozhukattai is fragrant of cardamom and is not cloyingly sweet; the red rice version goes well with coffee, it is generously flavoured with crushed green chillies. The flat ragi vadais are excellent, they are fried to perfection with plenty of onions and peanuts that add more crunch and texture. There are chocolate buns and chocolate polis too, apart from the usual teashop regulars like samosas and puffs.
Kaapi 2.0 outlets are present at Vadavalli, Anna Silai, Edayarpalayam, Sai Baba Colony, DB Road, Oppanakara Street, and Ramanathapuram.
