Our Mission Statement:

At Tipu's Tiger, Inc. we strive to provide a healthy, beautiful dining experience characterized by delicious food and exceptional service in an environment where we can practice kindness, compassion, clarity and tolerance, build friendships and nourish personal growth while working together. We seek to create an economically viable living business that models a friendly, team-based work environment and set an example for building a healthy community.

Who we are…

Tipu's Tiger opened the first Indian restaurant in Montana in May of 1997 to an enthusiastic welcome from Missoula. Two years later and desperately in need of more space our second location, Tipu's, was opened in the alley off 4th St. behind the Independent newspaper. Over the past five years, we have worked hard to provide the Missoula community and its guests with high quality food made from scratch and friendly, efficient service. Unable to keep up with the demands of running two restaurants, our original location on S. Higgins was reluctantly closed in February 2002. As a result, Tipu's is going strong…

Tipu's products can be found in many other places in the Missoula community. We provide our world-famous chai for other coffee shops around town, offer lunches and chai at the UC market on campus and cater weddings and other events. Every summer we can be found at Out to Lunch in Caras Park on Wednesdays, the People's Market on Saturdays and many other events and festivals. On the Internet, we are continually developing our website with menus, information and online ordering for chai mix, catering and eventually other packaged products - www.tipustiger.com.

Some of you know that we started as a small group of Buddhists who wanted to try to run a business that reflected our ideals and ethics. This is the reason we are vegetarian. Though we are not 100% organic, we prefer to use locally grown organic ingredients when possible and recycle whatever we can. We work as much as possible under a team-based concept, which we feel allows creativity and individual responsibility to flourish. Our full time salaried staff is provided with health benefits and allowed paid leave to attend retreats and renew themselves. We believe this reflects a commitment to create a sustainable lifestyle that supports personal and spiritual growth.

The practical working out of our Buddhist ideals takes many forms. Though only a fraction of those who work here are committed to the Buddhist path, all take on the practice of working together in as friendly and harmonious a manner possible. We work on developing tranquility in the midst of the chaos of restaurant work and to develop the qualities outlined in our Mission Statement.

We have these goals and missions but we are still a work in progress. We are grateful to our many loyal customers and staff who value what we are doing. The experiment continues…

May all beings be well and happy!