Mumbai food: Haldiram - the brand leader in Indian snacks

Haldiram

The ubiquitous presence of Haldiram as different crunchy snack options often lulls into not realising how big this food empire is. To put things in perspective it can be mentioned that it is India's biggest brand name in the packaged food industry and is exported to over a hundred countries.

Haldiram, the only picture available of him is a portrait

The fascinating part is that the beginning of this empire was a humble one that started in a market of Bikaner. But that was over a hundred years ago.

Workers piling heaps of bhujia at the Bikaji factory, Bikaner

Since then, the founding baron of the empire, Haldiram established the brand as the leader in Bikaner and over the decades his progeny took it to Kolkata, Nagpur and Delhi.

Contractors bag semiya at Prabhu Agarwal's Singur factory near Kolkata

In between, they had a fair share of family feuds including an internal legal dispute that has lasted over two decades, and the struggle of adapting to different cultures and circumstances in the new places. But at every step, the empire grew and their products reached more stores and plates.

Shiv Ratan Agarwal and son Deepak Agarwal at the Bikaji office in Bikaner

Bhujia Barons, The Untold Story Of How Haldiram Built a Rs 5,000 Crore Empire, Pavitra Kumar, Penguin, Rs 399

6 Life lessons from Haldiram, the man and the brand

1. Start early
Over a hundred years ago, Haldiram learnt what he liked early, and followed it. In his teens, his aunt visited their family and prepared a special bhujia. It was different from what their family sold and when he entered the business, he introduced the innovative style.

2. Be optimistic
Even when Haldiram had to move out of his family house in Bikaner in penury, he did not lose hope. In fact from accounts of his family members, one gets to know that worry never got the better of him as he was firm believer in the philosophy that everything happens for good.

3. Stay fit
Haldiram, the man who turned his bhujia stall in Bikaner into the most flourishing one in the town, was an earlier riser. He would wake up at the crack of dawn and exercise (not a new fad it seems) and was known for being fit and agile till well into his seventies.

4. Ace math
Earlier, Marwari children had little formal education. Instead they had a different kind of education where they entered business early and were trained in math that aids business. They memorised tables at decimal level and were razor sharp with mental math.

5. Work to win
Shiv Kishan, who is the pioneer of the Nagpur chapter of the business, had to move out of the Kolkata business because of a family feud and was even subjected to insults, which he did take to heart but turned it into a challenge he answered with his flourishing enterprise in Nagpur.

6. Build a good vibe
Haldiram reputedly never took a loan himself but did loan out money to help friends and his favours came back in times of need. In a way, spreading a web of favours, like The Godfather of Mario Puzo (a reference the author uses multiple times).