The Chai Master

Mr Rafih FiLLi is a fun loving person and enjoys being in the company of his friends. The history of the name FiLLi traces back to his school days, where his friends gave Mr Rafih the title FiLLi. Little did anyone know that this name given for the sake of fun would one day lead to the establishment of FiLLi. The signature FiLLi Zafran Tea is a result of his own determination to introduce a specialty tea in the market that people would love.

Today, this chaiwala owns many outlets, under the brand ‘FiLLi Cafe’ spread across 11 countries, enjoying a significant presence in UAE. But still, FiLLi claims that the process of brewing the crowd-pleaser was difficult and that the taste only gradually caught on. . “I just experimented with a tea bag and gave it to the regulars, and they liked it.” After seeing the beverage gain popularity among his usual customers, FiLLi stepped up its promotion among his clientele, surviving purely on word of mouth. FiLLi’s concept of refining and repackaging the traditional tea worked. The entrepreneur has struck a chord with the local market as he has unearthed a horde of tea lovers in the UAE, a market that was traditionally thought to be dominated by coffee drinkers. Growth has been steady for FiLLi who opened his second store in Dubai’s Mankhool area in 2008. The home-grown chain aims to have at least, 127 stores in the UAE by 2025.

FILLI LEGACY

About 15 years ago, when a young ‘ Rafih Filli ’ decided to take over his father’s  cafeteria in Dubai’s Al Mamzar area, he made a small but significant change in the  menu that was otherwise filled with banal products. He introduced a cup of milky  tea dusted with saffron, largely aimed at sweetening the taste buds of its clientele  and named it ‘Filli tea’, after his high school nickname. Little did he think that a  cup of tea could lead to a flourishing chain of cafes across the Gulf with  customers flocking to taste his concoction.