Sweet taste of tradition

167 years and still thriving on quality and goodwill.

They supplied sweets for the Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding, filmmaker Satyajit Ray was an ardent fan, Rituparno Ghosh of Chokher Bali fame is a frequent visitor and cricketer M S Dhoni does not miss the chance to savour their sweets when he’s in town. It’s not without reason that Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Nandi confectioners — popularly called Nakur — has such a long list of impressive clients. After all, this nondescript shop near Bethune College in north Kolkata is the best sandesh destination in the city.

The shop was set up 167 years ago by Mahesh Dey, who had come to Kolkata from Jonai in Hooghly district in search of a job. When the job hunt failed, he started the sweets shop. Later, his son Girish Chandra Dey took over and along with his son-in-law Nakur Nandi, after whom the shop is now named, gave the business a new edge. The number of customers has only grown since. “We’re an old establishment and customers have been coming to us over generations,” says 27-year-old Partha Nandi, the sixth generation owner of the shop.

 

At a time when other sweetmeat shops in Kolkata have opted for franchisees and have expanded to new areas, Nakur has held on to the original shop and resisted the temptation to modernise. The workshop, where moiras (sweet-makers) prepare Kolkata’s softest sandesh, is still attached to the sales counter. Nandi, while refusing to reveal the prized recipe, says that besides the technique, it’s the quality of raw material used that lends softness to the sandesh. For example, the milk is bought only from local dealers in the Chitpur and the Ganesh Talkies markets in north Kolkata. Over the years, Nakur has opened two branches at Khidirpur and Lakshminarayan market, but the sweets are still made in the main workshop.

Nakur has opposed the franchisee policy because of fears that this may hamper the quality of the product and adversely affect the century-old goodwill. But it has opened an outlet at Spencer’s, the retail initiative of the RP Goenka group. RP Goenka, explains Nandi, “has been a very loyal customer and we agreed to open the outlet on his request”.

Like his ancestors, Nandi is confident that the quality of their sweets can offset any competition, even if it comes packed in designer boxes. So, Nakur continues to sell its sweets in sober white boxes. “We do not believe in elaborate packaging for our products as the quality speak for itself,” says Nandi.

While packaging remains basic, Nakur has tried to cater to the changing taste of its customers. “Based on the traditional recipe, we are using innovative ingredients to come up with new products. The response has been very encouraging,” says Nandi. Beside the traditional naram paker sandesh (made from cottage cheese), karapaker sandesh (from molasses and cottage cheese and golapi pera (made from khir with rosewater), they’ve introduced sweets like ‘white chocolate sandesh’ made from milk chocolate, ‘dark chocolate sandesh’ made with dark chocolate and chandan sandesh made from sandalwood oil. “These new items have become extremely popular with the customers,” says Nandi. One product that deserves special mention is the mausumi sandesh made with coconut, nuts and molasses stuffing. This is available only in winter.

The people behind Nakur refuse to disclose the annual turnover, but proudly tell you that the sales are 100 per cent each day. One bite into the sandesh and you know why.

RASGULLA, THE SCIENTIFIC WAY

It is believed that in 1860, Nabin Chandra Das came up with a new recipe that had small balls of pure cow-milk casein boiled in sugar syrup. The sweet came to be called ‘rasgulla’ or ‘rossogolla’. Eight years later, his son Keshab Chadra Das introduced the canned rasgulla and gave this Bengali sweet a whole new identity. Today, KC Das Grandson Pvt Ltd is a brand name for rasgulla with production outlets in Kolkata and Bangalore. An R&D team in Bangalore now works hard to ensure that quality doesn’t slip. The company’s turnover last year was around Rs 13.5 crore. Every day, around 1,500 canned rasgullas are produced and packed without artificial preservatives, claims the company. KC Das has now tied up with Future Group and IRCTC. “We want our product to reach the masses. That could be made possible by collaboration with a retail giant,” says Biman Das, director of KC Das.