Iconic bottle Duke in Chembur makes way for a highrise, owners recall legacy

In 1970, Duke's moved from Khetwadi to bigger premises in Chembur

At first glance, Naval Pandole's Nariman Point office gives little away of his enduring connection with Duke's, the iconic beverage established by his great-grandfather Dinshawji Cooverji Pandole in 1889. But if you look closely, the signs are all there. A black and white picture of the erstwhile Grant Road factory hangs on a corner of a wall, while the last copy of a publication released to celebrate the brand's centenary, peeks from the table.

"The celebrations were held in 1989 at the quaint Colaba Agiary, where we invited all our well wishers. Like most Parsi celebrations, the Duke's sodas in pop colours were free-flowing. Frankly, the fact that it lasted for almost four generations was no mean feat," he says. In 1994, PepsiCo bought out Duke and Sons Pvt. Ltd, from its founder. It's an episode that the Pandoles' came to terms with graciously, but somewhere it's still a sore spot. "Since it was a homegrown brand we didn't want to sell it off. But the entry of powerful MNCs on the scene, and the fact that at the time, not too many youngsters from the family were willing to come forward to run it, led to the collective decision," he says. Today, the old monochrome picture and the magazine might be one of the few remnants of the brand, that last week witnessed the demolition of its two-storey cement bottle in Chembur; a 29-year-old relic that will now make way for a residential project by the Wadhwa Group.

Duke's, the lucky mascot
"For somebody as conservative as my father and uncle, the construction of the bottle at the factory was quite a bold step. I remember thinking, what would the old man say to this design, and to our surprise, he said, 'It's nice'," laughs Pandole, the vice-president of the Cricket Club of India. The last time Pandole visited the Chembur factory was two years ago, when it was gradually being dismantled. "I just took my writing desk and left. I didn't go back after that," he recalls. It was the place where he had worked for 24 years, prior to which he had spent two years getting his hands dirty at the Grant Road factory.

In 1968, when Pandole was inducted into the business, automation had just been introduced. The company had moved to bigger premises because the homely Grant Road factory could no longer support the expanding operations. At the time, Pandole had just returned from Germany after completing a course in food technology and was asked to lead the operations. The Chembur factory was spacious enough to house multiple bottling lines. Till then, bottle washers were essentially a hand-operated wheel into which bottles were inserted and then rotated into a bath of permanganate of potash. "Of course, today no hand touches the bottle. Having said that, the hygiene standards were as good," he says.

Naval Pandole at his Nariman Point office. He is the great-grandson of Dinshawji Cooverji Pandole, who launched Duke's in 1889. Pic/Atul Kamble

Interestingly, before establishing Duke's, Pandole's great-grandfather Dinshawji worked as a teacher, but his first love was a game of cricket. A great bowler, he led the historic Parsi cricket team that was selected to tour England in 1888. On the tour, he is said to have taken 86 wickets in the series, using a ball made by Duke & Sons. "This is part of the Pandole folklore, but when he returned to Mumbai, he inherited some money and decided to start a soft drink factory. Since the Duke's ball had proved to lucky for him, he decided that would be an auspicious name," he says.

The Bombay connect
By the 50s, the brand had become a household name, especially popular in the community. The repertoire included raspberry, ginger, lemonade and pineapple. "One summer, I believe there was a competition by restaurant owners. Anybody who could chug a cold 300 ml bottle of Duke's soda without stopping, would get a free crate. From what I heard, there was not one person who could do it because the amount of gas inside that product was so strong," he says. Pandole tried it himself but was unsuccessful. "It burnt my throat," he laughs.

Dinshawji Pandole, founder of Duke's

The prosperous phase also witnessed one of its biggest challenges, the entry of multinational giant Coca Cola. Pandole recalls how his father, Feroze, would get anxious. "He knew that they had the money to eat into the business. He had to come up with a strategy," he says. The masterstroke came in the form of Mangola, the first mango-based drink to be introduced in the city. "He went to a food canning factory and asked them to make 3,000 cans of mango pulp. He then prepared his own formulation. What he also did was sell it as the price as the aerated drink. So people were getting a 100 per cent fruit based drink for the price of a lemonade. It was a blitzkrieg," he says.

Strangely, despite its soaring sales, Mangola was never a profitable venture, adds Pandole. "The cost of production was high, the returns would rarely match up. Fortunately, during the later years, we started differentiating between Mangola and the other soft drinks which helped," he says. Years later, when Pepsi Co bought the product, Pandole says they changed the formulation of the drink, impacting its taste. "They had this and their mango-based drink, and, as per USA standards you can't have two similar drinks from the same brand, so they phased it out. It still hurts," he says.

Here to stay
Meanwhile, a handful of restaurants in Mumbai continue to offer Duke's soda and its sister product, the lemonade. Jimmy Boy's, a Parsi joint in Horniman Circle, has been doing so for 20 years. Shehzad Irani, whose uncle owns the restaurant, remembers how no Parsi wedding or Navjote would be complete without Duke's soda. "Raspberry and Mangola were particularly popular. I remember Pepsi relaunched the flavours in 2011, but it was nothing compared to the original," he says. Newer restaurants such as Café Zoe have resorted to using the PET bottles of Duke's soda. "These are more practical as there is less wastage and breakage," says co-founder Jérémie Horowitz. The reason behind choosing Duke's also has to do with the emotional connect. Tarini Mohindar, who founded the cafe along with Horowitz, says, "I remember Duke's Raspberry at Navjotes. At school, it would be a treat for all of us to buy the lemonade from the canteen."

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