The iconic Keventers brand now in a new bottle

Keventers has successfully employed its century-old history to reinvent itself

Meet me by Keventers” is a phrase one often hears while strolling across New Delhi’s Connaught Place. For newcomers and old-timers alike, remembering the blocks could be a challenge, but recalling where old shops such as Wenger’s and Keventers are located is easy. A parking attendant confidently points in the direction of the milkshake shop that has been a cultural icon for generations of Delhiites. But pay closer attention and you’ll notice the Keventers board has gone. Renamed “Shake Square”, few know about the litigation battle that led to this tiny shop losing a name it bore for nearly 50 years.

The old Calcutta Keventers shop

What’s likely to be a bigger shock to most of its loyal customers is the fact that there exists an “original” Keventers, one that is crawling its way across India and the world. The classic glass bottles with black tops, filled with flavoured milk or cold coffee, have become a common sight at several upscale malls and restaurant hubs in India — distinct also from the large, half-litre bottles sold in Connaught Place. 

The erstwhile dairy farm in New Delhi

When a Swedish dairy technologist, Edward Keventer, set up shop in India in the late 1890s, little would he have known about the chain of events he would set in motion. The Keventers business began with a dairy processing unit in Aligarh and spread to cities such as Delhi and Calcutta (now Kolkata), selling a whole variety of dairy and bakery products such as butter, cheese, flavoured milk, and even pork. Edward and his nephew, Werner, expanded the business and set up the large dairy plant in what is now known as Malcha Marg in New Delhi. The business grew but the political climate was changing, too. 

After the death of both Edward and Werner, the business was sold to Ram Krishna Dalmia in the 1946. Between the ’40s and early ’70s, the Dalmia family scaled up the business and Keventers became a major supplier of milk powder to the Indian Army. “Though my father is a man of few words, I remember tales of how cars would transport milk powder to the army from our Delhi factory. It was a matter of pride for all of us to be associated with such an iconic brand,” says Agastya Dalmia, Ram Krishna’s grandson. 

An old Keventers shop

At the time, milkshakes, too, were becoming a strong suit of the brand, with small kiosks in various parts of the country — including the outlet in Connaught Place and one in Darjeeling — stocking the traditional three flavours: vanilla, strawberry and butterscotch. 

But this confident growth was halted abruptly when the government acquired land from Keventers. This led to the shutting down of the plant in Malcha Marg. A wealthy family, the Dalmias chose to dissolve the brand and shut down its various dairy businesses. But what of the numerous kiosks peppered across states in the country? 

“When the original Keventers brand shut in the ’60s, it had several distributors who wanted to continue their business keeping the same trademarked name,” explains Sohrab Sitaram, the restaurateur who is now the CEO, director and a co-founder of Keventers. 

Fast forward to 40 years later when a young Agastya chose to go back to his business roots and revamp the Keventers brand. Agastya and his friend, Aman Arora, started a compact shop in New Delhi’s Netaji Subhash Place in 2015, offering the same recipe of the “original” Keventers at a similar price point. That experiment failed and it was then that the duo approached Sitaram to rethink the brand strategy.

“After months of brainstorming and working out of a co-working space in Shahpur Jat in Delhi, we decided that our brand had to be aspirational. It had to play into the retro-chic model, because while Generation X knew this brand, Generation Y only saw it as something their parents would and could relate to,” says Sitaram.

Edward Keventer with his wife, Alma

To this end, Keventers has retained the glass bottle for its “old school” charm, but given it a subtle makeover. “Each city has its own variant of the bottle and we even have limited-edition festive ones. We want our customers to take home a little piece of Keventers with them,” explains Sitaram. The price point, too, is different from the Connaught Place shop, a conscious choice on the part of the Keventers team. While the Shake Square shakes are priced under Rs 100, Keventers has placed itself in the premium category, with shakes going up to Rs 200 for a smaller bottle.

From a five-person squad in 2015 to about 100 people working for the company, the Keventers growth story has gained mythical proportions, complete with a David versus Goliath perception that Sitaram says has been both unfair and inaccurate. “When we were setting up the business as we know it today, we approached the shop owners in Connaught Place for a peaceful resolution. We told them they could continue to use the brand name, but only that they stock our bottles and our products. The gentleman refused flat-out,” he says.

Agastya Dalmia, Sohrab Sitaram and Aman Arora

A legal battle ensued and it was adjudicated that the Dalmia family owned the Keventers copyright. Soon after, the iconic signage from the Connaught Place shop was replaced with “Shake Square”. “They approached us before the court case, saying that were we to use the brand name, we would have to pay royalty running into crores. It is unfortunate that things came to such a pass, especially when you think it was our shop that made milkshakes synonymous with the Keventers name in all these years,” says Sagar Pahuja, the third-generation owner of Shake Square.

While there is certainly unhappiness over losing the court battle, Pahuja vehemently denies that this has meant any loss of business. “Our product speaks for itself. In fact, we had only four outlets back in 2015. We have eight outlets now, including four in Mumbai.”

”During our initial set-up phase, we approached everyone who was using our trademarked name and offered them a way forward to work along with us. We offered to collaborate with them for future prospects under joint-venture model,” says Sitaram.

The “original” Keventers today has 160 outlets across the world, including in Nepal and the UAE. “It makes sense to open outlets in countries that have been British colonies where the population of Indians is significant and where the brand will have recall value,” explains Sitaram. The turnover, too, has grown from Rs 4 crore in 2015 to Rs 75 crore this year. In fact, the efforts to revive the brand caught the attention of the Keventer family in Sweden, who reached out to the Dalmias to express their delight. “It would be a fitting tribute to Edward if we are able to set up operations in Sweden,” says Sitaram. More than a tribute, it would perhaps be a rare instance of a colonial vestige being taken back to the empire by its erstwhile colony.

Shake Square in Connaught Place

What sets the new Keventers apart is also a stringent adherence to the old ways — sourcing milk from dedicated dairy farms in Rajasthan and sticking to recipes that were painstakingly collated after talking to old employees.

While the Keventers brand has also set up a store in Connaught Place, it will be a while before it becomes a landmark. “Keventers” to those visiting Connaught Place is synonymous with its imperial past inside a legacy store, a half-litre bottle bringing together people from across income groups, even without a signboard bearing the archetypal name. For now, Connaught Place has two Keventers, one in memory and one in reality, straddling two different worlds and their ethos.