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Crystal Travel's 30th Anniversary
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Ricky Kothari: T-Sticks
Asian Voice | 6th May 2017
Sunetra Senior
The 30th Anniversary of Crystal Travels at the Riding House Street office
Smita Sarkar
Crystal Travel celebrated its 30th Anniversary with their staff on the 7th April in their offices in Riding House Street in Central London last week. John Kalia, the Director of Crystal Travels, P S Kang the MD/ Founder and Sukhi Kang, the Director of Finance were present at the celebrations. John told the Asian Voice that "it feels so good celebrating the 30 years of this company. Our group has many brands - the main is Crystal Travel, the others are Sam and Taprobane Travel. We have 50 staff located in three offices in London." The company has grown successfully in the Travel industry in the past decades, achieving good success with airlines part-
ners, hotels, holiday packages, travel services that includes worldwide cheap flights, affordable holiday packages, hotel reservations and car rentals. adding Cruising to their portfolio recently. The other specialisations include John said that going ahead in the next five years Crystal Travels will be concentrating on luxury travel, quality holiday programming and Cruising that has been received well in the UK. The company is a part of the Moorsand Group and has grown from strength to strength with an annual turnover of over £145 million. Apart from its three offices in London, the company also has call centres in Delhi and Colombo and are one of the key players as a consolidator of all major airlines.
Sad demise of Ratilalbhai Vallabhdas Palan Shri Ratilalbhai Vallabhdas Palan (Porbandar) - the father of Nitinbhai Palan – Head of BAPS Interfaith Department and originally from Jinja (Uganda) sadly passed away on Thursday 27 April 2017 at the age of 96. Ratilalbhai joined satsang in 1960 through Brahmaswarup Yogiji Maharaj and served him with various seva in Gondal and Jinja. This seva continued through his
dedicated devotion and attachment for Brahmaswarup Pramukh Swami Maharaj and Param Pujya Mahant Swami Maharaj. He was committed and dedicated in his satsang niyams. We pray to Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Guruhari Mahant Swami Maharaj to grant his soul with eternal peace in Akshardham; and also offer prayers for the family to bear this loss with courage and strength.
P r a r t h a n a Sabha: Date: Tuesday 2 May 2017 Time: 8.00pm Address: The Swaminarayan School Gym, 260 Brentfield Road, N e a s d e n , London, NW10 8HE Note: Everyone can meet family members from 7.30pm onwards. Antim Darshan: Date: Saturday 6 May 2017 Time: 9.15am Address: The Swaminarayan School
Gym, 260 Brentfield R o a d , Neasden, London, NW10 8HE F u n e r a l Details: Date: Saturday 6 May 2017 Time: 11.00am Address: Golders Green Crematorium, 56-58 Hoop Lane, London, NW11 7HL Contact Details: Nitinbhai Palan (son): 07715 110 239 Kamuben Palan (daughter-in-law): 07956 377 852
Ricky is the imagination behind a slick, new nimble product that allows one to “experience Great Britain's favourite hot drink in the most innovative way.” The T-Stick is a slender, perforated tube, made from recycled aluminium, and chocked full of loose tea. This allows the on-the-go consumer to brew up the perfect cuppa without the frustration and the mess. “Tea is loved by so many people,” the cofounder and conversationalist said, “and yet the same streamlining applied to coffee, whereby there is a granule alternative to filter preparation, was not an option. I drew from personal experience when working in the very fast-paced world of management consultancy. It was so unfortunate to have to constantly pass up a great cuppa because of all the hassle with dripping teabags and never being able to find a clean teaspoon! T-Sticks are not only more pragmatic and portable, but enhance the brew’s flavour. From our Zen Green and Lemon tea to The Earl’s Favourite tea, we preserve the colourful traditional aroma whilst putting you firmly in control. This is the other, defining edge to T-Sticks: they double up as stirrers. To this end, we’re not so much competing with the existing tea market as complementing and growing a multidimensional drink! As well as the convenience many customers have commented on our dexterous TStick being incredibly therapeutic.” *** Thus Ricky successfully blends contemporary work culture with the natural and salubrious power of tea. “And it really was an organic journey,” he added. “T-Sticks came into being as part of a healthconscious, self-caring drive. Although I enjoyed my former highpower job, I found myself becoming disruptively unfit over time. I wanted to focus more on my body, harmonising the connection with my mind. Well-being is a life-style that will remain close to my heart. Right now, for example, we are seriously looking into increasing our herbal and organic range, even including vitamin supplements.” The company’s remedial ethic also speaks through their many notable clients, including prestigious London country estate The Grove, and on an international scale, the luxury hotel chain Ritz-Carlton. “It was also rewarding to win not one but two World Food Innovation Awards.” Simultaneously a gym instructor – teaching spin class to students, who are, of course, treated to all the latest trial T-Sticks flavours - Ricky shows that those with good products need only the pure conviction to launch to great success.
Will you extend the line to other products that need not be such hassle? Yes, I’m glad you asked! We are looking to expand the T-Sticks brand to different everyday products that currently need problem-solving. We do have C-Sticks too, for example, which adapt coffee in the same dexterous format. The launch of the new all encompassing brand of the next generation of infusion sticks, STICKSOLOGY, is planned for a launch later this year. What have some of your favourite T-shaped responses been? The response from the Asian market! It’s been so welcoming as a big platform which reaches many customers. This bodes very well for T-Sticks, which we’ll be launching in the UK nationwide over the next few months. The general response has also proven promising: we’ve had hospitality customers saying how people self-serving has cut down lengthy queues; cafes saying how relaxing it’s been for people who aren’t even necessarily on the go. Some of our customers also include the Lamborghini and Ferrari showrooms, who’ve applauded the sleekness of T-Sticks. Another happy recipient has been the Google offices. Basically the feedback is confirming a quality product. Have you always been business-minded? My family, in particular my father is medically-minded so I’ve inherited the entrepreneurial and resilience streak from my mother. A lot of the journey has also come about situationally. My co-
founder and long-term friend is BritishChinese so his mum would always make me good Chinese tea, while my mother introduced him to Indian aromas. There’s then been a diverse foundation for the T-Stick. Another great boost was receiving a Virgin start-up loan. How did you get the start-up to build the momentum it has today? I worked with my co-founder to create a brand that would be desirable and The Grove - home to England Football Team - was a good first client. At the TSticks launch in 2015, the product was also commended by David Cameron which was great. The praise continued
'we’re not so much competing with the existing tea market as complementing and growing a multidimensional drink!' from the consequent trade shows. Having good partners such as Google Office was stabilising, and launching with online platforms such as AliBaba.com boosted our outreach. We also supply to offices who we know to have a receptive demographic, such as the trendier spaces shooting up in London. Our product is both traditional
and appeals to the younger millennial.
Do you think aiming high has been pivotal in your success? Yes. It’s important not to be scattergun. We picked clients and partners carefully and with pride. We all want success quickly, but it’s important to be deliberate.
What are your biggest social accolades? Getting the whole proposition, from product conception to branding, right! On this front, I also cherish the memory of being able to sit down with Sir Richard Branson and talk through the business venture with him. Finally, TSticks are proud to be associated with Junior Chamber International (JCI) . We are big believers in sharing and encouraging others with self-development. We want to help young people who want to help themselves. Being at the top of the market means being ahead of competitors and being highly adaptable doesn’t it? Yes, and because we are a small yet agile company, we can do this very well. Do you have a comment on how impending Brexit has affected you and how you see it changing life for SMES? Initially, because the pound had dropped so much, we lost a sizeable sum overnight – not unlike many others. The mood was very sombre. I remember presenting to the Polish Business Network, and obviously a lighter atmosphere would have helped morale and bonding over the product. However, on the flipside, we are getting more enquiries from abroad so we will be doing more exporting in that respect. Foreign buyers are interested because of the cheaper pound. There is a lot of uncertainty though, and we will just have to stay strong and ride it out.
What does CSR mean for TSticks? It’s two-fold: we want to encourage people within the team to be open and themselves. This might include celebrating an individual’s success by taking them out for dinner. Externally – we want to push eco-friendly ingredients and fair-trade products. At the moment, we are also partnering with an organisation which trains homeless people to become baristas. We would supply the product at cost, and the candidates would earn their living.
Finally, what’s a good piece of advice in terms of branding and packaging? Do your research! Undertake focus groups and understand your 'hero' customers which we are till learning about.
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www.t-sticks.co.uk/