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‘Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.’
They had taken a local snack and turned it into a national craving by focusing on packaging and branding even before their countrymen had heard of the concepts.
The strength of this business lies within its many relationships and ties with distributors and resellers. Haldiram’s is now sold in almost all Indian grocery stores and supermarkets, as toppings for chaats in restaurants, its mithai sold as frozen goods abroad.
He not only left them a legacy in the form of the business they all so deeply cherish, but he also left a strong set of beliefs and principles for them to always fall back on.
He wanted to truly understand what would make the customers happy, identify ways in which product quality could be improved and thereby ultimately focus on attaining customer loyalty by delivering on their needs rather than resting his laurels on immediate sales. In retrospect, this could be seen as evidence of his strategic foresight. He
To that effect, he wanted customers to feel like they were doing something more than just munching on a snack when they bought his bhujia. Maybe he hoped they would feel prominent, worthy and possibly even royal. And so, he named the bhujia ‘Dungar sev’ after the well-loved maharaja of Bikaner,
In one single brilliant stroke, Haldiram both differentiated the product and gave it a recall value, while the royal association also gave the bhujia aspirational value.
‘They were taught so many mathematical tricks that they didn’t have to think twice before calculating a complex problem and getting it right!’
again taught them a vital life lesson: the value of money.
Haldiram was especially endowed with a curious mind, a creative spirit and, above all, an optimistic courage that set him apart from other Marwari businessmen.
What other members contributed in terms of odd jobs around the house and domestic chores helped in reducing costs for the family. This simple concept of productivity is the core philosophy behind their joint family system, and from this came their intense desire to cooperate with one
It was our joint mission to work together so we could eat together as a family,’
Haldiram had again fittingly identified the audience and made the perfect sales pitch by delivering the right product to the right customer.
‘His customers were very particular about taste and were shaukeen,’
They had been assured the shop would open at 7 a.m., and he was forever horrified at the rare possibility that a customer could come by and not find anyone there.
“God doesn’t give me my house and money to support my family; my customers do. Whatever we sell to the customers, they must always feel that they have got their money’s worth. That’s why they come back”.’
Haldiram was creative, focused and hard-working, but like most perfectionists, he was also famous for having a short temper, a trait that many of his grandsons have come to inherit.
Somehow, the key lesson that the stories focused on was quality. He vowed to never compromise on it and ‘always operate with integrity to find success’.
‘What if it doesn’t work out? What if it is a colossal waste of resources, time and effort? What if in the process we lose everything?’
The Marwari people, though born in dust, had over the years learnt to refine whatever skills they possessed like iridescent diamonds polished from the rough. Instead of resigning themselves to a life of poverty and misfortune brought on by having been born on infertile land, they evolved into highly resourceful and skilled businessmen
Historically, Marwaris travelled outside their ancestral homes seeking economic advancement, which forced them to be the outsiders in every new community. This propelled them to develop the ability to negotiate and compromise with the natives in these new territories.
Kolkata, a city filled with artists, writers and revolutionaries, had been forced to squeeze in and make room for businessmen for centuries, subconsciously acknowledging that perhaps shrewdness and cunning was genetic, and reluctantly conceding that these outsiders were a necessary component for their economic sustenance.
Uninitiated into modern marketing practices, they uniquely began by allowing customers to take away little samples of the mixture to taste. Soon, the mixture sold out and was clearly another success.
‘It became a hobby. We would see new namkeens in Bengali stores in Kolkata, buy some, bring them home, take them apart, and come up with our own versions that were way better than the local products,’ said a satisfied Shiv Kishan.
In network externalities, the more people that use a particular product, the more its value goes up, thereby bringing even more people on board.
As more and more bhujia was available in the market, the more its demand grew and the cycle continued. The party most to benefit from this, ironically, was the original Haldiram Bhujiawala, as their product was clearly superior in taste and quality. Not only did this sudden surge in bhujia makers in Kolkata bring about a healthy dose of competition, it also increased the popularity of the snack, making it an important part of the customer’s snack food ecosystem while also bringing more business to all shopkeepers.
Hurt pride proved to be a great catalyst for inspiration, and inspiration led to the virtuous cycle of passion generating positive action. Shiv Kishan found his heart burning with ambition leading to not just his conquering Nagpur but setting the wheels in motion for the family to finally expand to the capital as well.
‘Only 15 per cent of family businesses make it past the third generation,’ touts the Wall Street Journal. Most globally reckoned with family enterprises such as Johnson & Johnson and the Mayo Clinic only survived the test of time because they realized early on to develop robust policies and processes to manage succession and the involvement of human ties and emotions in business. This alone possibly forms the foundation for the multibillion-dollar enterprises to have thrived and succeeded over decades.
Each city, hot in its own unique way, was conquered with courage, faith and steady determination.
Moolchand resisted new ideas like golden retrievers resist baths!
Gradually, Manoharlal adopted and fiercely put into practice the philosophy of ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’.
Following much thought and some old-fashioned napkin calculations, Manoharlal decided it would be good for the business in the long run even though there might be some upfront costs to deal with.
All Manoharlal had was faith and a conviction in his belief that the flexo printing and more hygienic bhujia would increase demand, in turn giving them the opportunity to raise prices and snowballing their revenues into a different league. A sentiment that will resonate with most modern marketers—no amount of projections and speculations of growth guarantee success, only action could lead to such a desirable consequence.
The Haldiram family, throughout its history, has unearthed a genius or rebel from each generation who insists on taking the road less travelled, pushing the family’s thinking, forcing them to innovate and enabling them to reach newer heights of success.
It is a few men with bold attitudes who have always shaped the history of companies, cities and nations.
Manoharlal had also improved the quality of the actual product by carefully managing their purchasing process and installing gatekeepers to ensure that raw materials went through an exhaustive quality check before being used.
Manoharlal had used Haldiram’s principles against him, knowing fully well which one of them Haldiram would adhere to more strongly.
Leverage
Gurcharan Das, president of P&G and author of multiple books, mentions in his book The Elephant Paradigm that there were only two new brands in the market demonstrating world-class skill and performance
what they lacked in financial resources they made up in their knowledge of the local customers and, more importantly, their strong relationships with suppliers and karigars in the market. Tapadia said, ‘Gurcharan Das had once mentioned that part of the reason why Haldiram’s was successful was due to their strong relationships within the market—and he was right.’
‘RD always said, “The man who works never loses. The reward will find you some day, somehow.”
close-knit community, Bengalis are a warm academic people with great veneration for art and culture.
West Bengal has historically been a communist state and there has always been a huge value placed on labour conditions.
‘to develop a country it is important to have different states. This helps all areas to develop faster as they receive more focused attention.’
The first step was to build strong relationships with carrying and forwarding (C&F) agents, super-stockists and channel distributors.
Today, due to their greater bargaining power, they pay some of the smallest commissions in the industry: 2 per cent to all C&F agents and 7 per cent to channel distributors.
Bhikharam Chandmal run by Poonam Chand and his son Ashish Agarwal in Kolkata
realized the extra costs that came with running showrooms.
Prabhu had worked with him to start a franchise operation where they would stock Haldiram goods at a franchise location, and the shopkeeper would pay them a franchise fee for stocking and selling their products.
If a customer complains about something in the food, the waiters have been specifically told to quietly take the plate away and offer the customer a new one, sans any
However now, with triple, quadruple and five-layer sophisticated packaging, our products have a shelf life of six to eight months and are being exported to the United States, Australia, Singapore, United Kingdom,
