LONDON: A legal and trademark dispute has arisen between once-viral sensation Arshad Khan, popularly known as blue-eyed Arshad Khan Chaiwala, and Nadir Durrani, the London businessman who helped introduce the Café Chaiwala brand to Britain.
The disagreement centers on the use of the Chaiwala name, payments and claims of independent branding.
Arshad Khan first became a household name in 2016 after a photo of him making tea at a stall in Islamabad went viral. Riding that wave of fame, he launched his original Chaiwala Café in October 2020. In March 2021, UK master franchise rights were awarded to Nadir Durrani and Yawar Akbar Durrani under a 10-outlet master franchise agreement.
The first branch under this deal will open in east London, Ilford Lane, in 2023, followed by a sub-franchise in Tooting, south London, in early 2025; Both did good business.
The case revolves around intellectual property rights and contract interpretation. Arshad says UK partners have fired him.
Speaking to PakGazette News, Nadir confirmed that the UK operation has terminated its contract with the brand represented by Arshad. “We have parted ways amicably. We will soon be rebranding under a new name, which will be revealed very soon. We will soon be opening another store in Slough, west London.”
He maintains that what was originally pitched as a franchise became a “self-build business” as the UK team received “no operational, material or marketing support from franchise owner Kazim Hasan and we had to design everything independently, from the logo and interior design to the recipes and customer experience”.
He added that despite faithfully paying royalties, the UK company was left without the resources that a legitimate franchise system normally provides. “Everything that defines our cafes – the images, the menu and the feel – was created here, not imported. We received no support from Arshad Khan’s team. He could not come to the UK due to his Afghan nationality issue. All the promises his team made turned out to be false.”
Nadir said, “Arshad Khan’s team played no role in our success. The cafe’s identity, menu, operations and branding were not inherited from the franchisor, but were conceived and built entirely through my own creativity, experimentation and perseverance. I bore the financial burden, took all the risks and did the critical work that is typically done by a brand’s headquarters. Our success is based on our sheer personal dedication.”
Arshad claims that since early 2025 it has faced contractual and payment issues with its UK partners. He told this journalist that he had not received royalty payments for more than 10 months even though the cafes were still operating and “making a lot of money”.
“They sent me a termination notice and stopped my payments,” Arshad said. “But they still run the business under my brand ‘Café Chaiwala’, just removing ‘Arshad Khan’ from the brand. “This is my name, my identity and my hard work. “I just want justice.”
Nadir said, “Arshad Khan was not the franchisor, but was managed by Kazim, who was the actual franchisor who signed the agreement with us. When we signed the agreement with Kazim, they had a flagship unit in the Blue Area and more openings in Pakistan, but they lost all their units due to poor performance. We sued them in Pakistan and have a favorable ruling with us. Arshad Khan’s problems were never mentioned to us before signing the contract. We offered to buy the franchise directly, but the franchisor did not “He cooperated.”
Arshad also said that he has now hired lawyers to take legal action and intends to travel to London after the unlocking of his CNIC, over the Afghan nationality issue, which was resolved last month.
In a statement, Kazim said: “The brand and its ownership remain solely under our franchise rights.”
