A destination for diners

RETAIL: Haldiram is soon to give Kolkata the country's first food mall.

Two retail categories tend to explode once a country nears the $1,000 per head GDP mark: apparel and food. There is evidence of both at India's bustling malls, but the silverfoil on the sandesh has got to be this: Kolkata is to have India's first food mall.

That means 60,000 sq ft of space dedicated to confectioneries and coffee to pav bhaji and chana bhatura. A venture by Mahesh Agarwal, who runs the Haldiram's eatery on Chowringhee Road, Haldiram Food City on Ballygunje Park Road will open sometime soon.

The glass-fronted five-storied structure, designed by The Design Cell, has entailed an investment of around Rs 8 crore (excluding the land, which was acquired way back in 1978).

The mall will have separate food counters on the ground floor selling mithai, pastries, chocolates, candies, besides a coffee lounge. It's like the huge Haldiram's outlet in Gurgaon on the Delhi-Jaipur highway, which uses elements of assembly line production for food items "" only bigger. There are other things on sale, too.

The first floor will house a huge 300-seater food court with separate areas for kitty parties and the like, and the second floor will be a supermarket selling all varieties of FMCG and home-utility products, including fresh vegetable and fruits. The third and fourth floors will be banquet areas. There will be parking space, in the basement and on the premises, for about 60 cars.

Haldiram's has done a remarkable job of using the McDonald's formula of quick, hygienic and low-priced food with shuddh vegetarian Indian items like stuffed parathas, dhoklas, dosas..., with Indianised versions of pizzas and sandwiches thrown in. The basic "fast food" idea having proved a success, it makes sense to span out, enlarge the scale and reap larger economies of scale.

Incidentally, this venture does not have anything to do with the three better-known Haldiram Bhujiawalas in Kolkata in Burrabazar (the first one set up in 1958 by his father, Rameshwarlal), Kankurgachi and VIP Road "" these are run by Agarwal's older brother, Prabhu Shankar, and his nephew, Sharad.

Mahesh Agarwal branched out in 1991 to set up Pratik Food Products, which runs the Chowringhee Haldiram's. There is another Haldiram in town, "Haldiram & Sons" on Bentinck Street which is run by Agarwal's cousins, the sons of his uncle Satyanarayan.

Indeed, the sons of Gangabhiram Agarwal, the patriarch who opened a snacks-and-sweets shop in Bikaner in 1937, have set up a food empire and, put together, must be worth around Rs 500 crore.

The family may have set up separate businesses; they, however, continue to share certain values. A reason why non-vegetarian food and liquor are strictly out of bounds. "The family will not allow it," says Agarwal.