Sweet ol' city

Twinkling lights shine through a glass wall of a Haldiram outlet on a busy street.

While cars zoom by on the road, children, couples and families inside the AC interiors jostle for a seat. It's a Saturday evening and the outlet is packed.

Welcome to sweet ol' Kolkata where every street has at least one sweetmeat shop offering its own speciality for discerning Bengali palates in the para.

Who, then, are thronging the Haldiram outlets? Will traditional sweetmeat shops ever wither away?

Not a chance, says 60-year-old Saraswati Pal. "Bengalis have rather traditional eating habits. Whether it's going to friends' or relatives' homes on a puja evening or congratulating someone for a work well done, they will inevitably fall back on a box of sweets. There is no chance of malls or big eating outlets phasing out traditional Bengali sweetmeat shops."

But is the eating mall concept of Haldiram a threat? If so, none of the sweetmeat majors are ready to admit as much. Some even refuse to believe that Haldiram is a worthy opponent, though competition is fierce in the sweet market.

"Competition is healthy," says Shubhajit Ghosh, one of the owners of Bancharam. "In fact, our six outlets compete with each other to provide the best quality."

Born almost 40 years ago at the canteen of Deys Medical from where Bancharam Ghosh began his business, the brand now has outlets in Gariahat, Lake Market, Kasba bypass connector, Salt Lake, Rabindra Sarani and Boubazar.

Modernisation, not competition, is what is driving them to come up with a hygienic sweet factory. Soon to begin near Kasba, the factory will invite customers to witness the production of sweets.

"Diversification is essential to cater to our various clients. Our shops will soon have lip-smacking parathas and packaged chanachurs apart from our famous Pantua, Jeebhe Gaja and Abar Khabo sandesh."

Variety is the name of the game for Gupta Brothers too. From Besan ke Laddoo to crispy chilly babycorn, their five outlets are keeping all segments happy.

"Even the peon who comes to pick up a large order for his saheb at office, must find something in our shop to eat," says one of the proprietors of Gupta Brothers, Rajesh Gupta.

"Our prices even in these tough times have remained competitive. The mall culture does not attract us as it offers limited space and restricted timings. People have been coming to us for three generations because we offer something unique, be it Butterscotch Rosomalai, baked butterscotch Rabri, Sitafal sandesh, and mango or butterscotch mishti doi."

"Competition is good for us as it goads us to think out of the box. Our Park Street outlet is turning 10 this year so we will turn it into an art café," adds Rajesh.

An example of their unique gifts was a handmade basket full of musical instruments such as the flute, harmonium and tabla made of sugar-free ingredients. The recipient? Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Cashing in on the trend of corporate parties and theme events has helped their business, says Rajesh.

"Education with fun is what guides us to think up novel ideas while arranging kids birthday parties. At a recent party, children loved our creations – the Maradona burger and the Pele gulab jamun. We build parties around themes, be it sangeet parties or a corporate do," he adds.

What is the biggest challenge in the sweet business? The verdict is unanimous – quality.

"What makes KC Das rosogollas famous is the quality. While other shops stock sweets for over three days, our rosogollas have a shelf life of less than 24 hours. This summer, we had to remove them from counters within eight hours if they remained unsold," says Dhiman Das, the director of KC Das.

"We use very little sweet in our rosogollas. While that decreases the shelf life of the products, our niche clientele appreciates the healthy products," he says.

KC Das' stress on quality extends to its production techniques, too. Their factories are one of the few that use steam boilers instead of coal ovens. A research facility in Bangalore, supported by the Union ministry, allows students to research on dairy products and microbiological developments.

KC Das has six outlets in the city and they are mulling ways to cater to markets outside Kolkata.

"But in this city, we have no worthy opponent. No other shop in Kolkata offers the kind of rosogollas we do. When our product itself is unique, where does competition come in? We could still have considered the question if our revenue earning had dipped. But that has not happened," he claims.

Prashanta Nandy, one of the partners of the three-outlet Nakur Chandra Nandy chain, too dismisses the threat of gradual extinction. "The Haldiram outlets are restaurants, not sweetmeat shops. How can you compare them with traditional shops?" he asks.

A big name in the sandesh market for 166 years, their traditional sandesh varieties have pleased many a sweet tooth. From Satyajit to Sandip Roy and MS Dhoni to Abhishek Bachchan, their sweets have found many happy clients. In fact, among the sweets sent for the Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding were four varieties of Nakur sandesh – parijat, moushumi, chocolate and jolbhora sandesh.

Sandesh is what defines the two outlets of Bhim Nag too – from Abar Khabo, Rose Cream, Dil Khushi to Poritripti. But their chamchams, especially their Ros Chamcham, are also very poplar. During summers, seasonal specialities like Alfonso mango sandesh and mango doi are also popular. Their customers reflect the who's who of Bengal's traditional history, from Ashutosh Mukherjee to Tagore's family.

"Monitoring the quality is crucial in our business because the raw material – dairy products and sugar or jaggery – can easily rot and that would be disastrous," says Pratap Nag, one of the partners of Bhim Nag.

Although he claims that they want to concentrate on quality in two outlets instead of expanding, insiders claim that rivalries within the family and the disinterest of the younger generation in the family business will lead to the end of some of the Bengali sweet giants.

Reluctant though they are to admit that the new mall culture offers stiff opposition, sweetmeat giants are busy ensuring how best to retain their customers.

While Bancharam is building its infrastructure to create a hygienic factory, Nakur is not averse to investing on machines that help manufacture quality products.

And while KC Das has already come up with an "adda outlet" at Rash Behari, Gupta Brothers is eyeing GenNext with their upcoming café at Park Street.

The battle of the sweets has just begun.


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