HALDIRAM’S: INDIA’S

ENTREPRENEURIAL
CASE STUDY
 Introduction

It's pretty inspiring to hear how Haldiram, the famous maker

of bhujias, went from a modest namkeen shop in Bikaner,
Rajasthan, India, to a multi-billion-dollar corporation. Even
though Haldiram is currently worth at more than 3 billion
dollars (about 21,000 crores), it's interesting to note that
none of the founding generations of the company have more
education than a class 8 diploma. A global Indian business
called Haldiram's, which has its headquarters in Nagpur,
Maharashtra, generates $1 billion in revenue, $150 million in
net profit, and $100 million in brand value as of 2022. It has
been important to understand how business is conducted in
that region of the world as a result of India's recent rise to
economic prominence. Understanding how companies are
developed and structured in India is also crucial. Even today,
some of the largest companies listed on the Indian stock
exchange are still partially held by families. Many Indian
companies were founded as family businesses. Family-run
companies include Reliance Industries, Tata, Birla, SRF, Bajaj,
Dabur, Wadia, Godrej, Kirloskar, and Haldiram's, among
others. Unprecedented numbers of Western businesses are
setting up businesses and offices in India, forcing a need to
research how Indian businesses are run and managed.
According to recent research (Gupta, 2005; Sharma, 2000;
and Veliyath, 2004), there is a growing interest in researching
Indian enterprises. This area of study has a tremendous need
for research. A multi-cuisine Indian fast-food establishment is
called Haldiram's. When it comes to the Indian fast-food
idea, they are the best. They are also among the biggest
manufacturers of sweets and snacks in India. They have
locations in various Indian cities, including Nagpur, Delhi, and
Gurgaon. The UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Sri Lanka,
Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, Qatar, Hong
Kong, Japan, Kenya, North Korea, Nigeria, Mauritius, Zambia,
and Bahrain are just a some of the global locations for its
products. Fast food in India is utterly disorganised. There
aren't any Indian fast-food restaurants that might be
considered Haldiram's rivals. It is completely disorganised.
The family of Haldiram is not from the restaurant industry.
Customers have taught them valuable lessons. They have
learned how to run the eateries from the patrons. They had
no restaurant, no professional credentials, and no experience
in the restaurant industry. As a sense, they are always
learning how to manage it from the ground up and from their
consumers. They serve the consumers really quickly. They
don't require a lot of time. They haven't conducted any
research, but they can observe that they serve consumers in
any region after they reach the service counter in no more
than 3 to 4 minutes.

 BACKGROUND

The Haldiram family business is run by Pankaj Agarwal,

who is in his fourth generation. In the 1940s, his great-
grandfather started.
Pankaj attended school at Mussoorie and Delhi in parts,
finishing his undergraduate studies in commerce at
Delhi's Hansraj College. He continued on to get his MBA
at the Lausanne Business School in Switzerland.
He returned to India and started working for his family's
company. He is currently Haldiram Manufacturing
Company Limited's Director (HMCL). Pankaj wants to be
self-taught in everything. He is curious about each and
every product, including how it is prepared, how it
tastes, and what ingredients are used.
Pankaj believes that his strength is his ability to
comprehend the individuals he works with and the
needs of the clients in terms of taste preferences.
He continuously evaluates his company's strengths and
shortcomings and has a clear vision for Haldiram's. He
adds, "There is no chef I can rely on to oversee the
quality of our items, and since it's manual labour, there
is a potential that the quality would be subpar.
 Therefore, you must be knowledgeable to avoid being
duped. Pankaj first talks things over with his father
before putting anything into practise because his father
is a storehouse of knowledge and experience. He has
more than 40 years of experience in this field.
 HISTORY OF HALDIRAM’S

It was initially just one company, Haldiram's. The 1940s were

the initial years when it began. The sons and brothers of
Pankaj's great-grandfather dispersed throughout India as
time went on. They began employing the moniker
Haldiram's.
Early in the 1990s, Haldiram's experienced a special vitality in
the food industry that resulted in the professionalisation and
growth of the company. In 1983, their family relocated from
their native Bikaner to Delhi. Pankaj's father opened a
modest shop in the Chandni Chowk neighbourhood of old
Delhi after relocating there. The high calibre of the snacks
produced quickly made the brand name well-known. They
established their first production facility in Mathura Road,
Delhi, in 1992, and it was at that point that they began selling
their goods, since they had previously exclusively sold in-
person. Wholesalers or store owners would visit and make
purchases from there, but neither had a sales staff nor a
marketing network. So, they introduced a proper bundle in
1992.
The first phase, which was basically at the Chandni Chowk
store, only lasted from 1983 until 1992. At that time,
Haldiram's established itself in Delhi and began to gain
notoriety.
When they opened their production facility on Mathura Road
in 1992, they also began marketing. Beginning in 1996 or
1997, they began exporting. Therefore, the brand name has
just really taken off in terms of being national in the last
fifteen years or so.

 Haldiram’s Marketing Mix

Because there was no branded namkeen at that time in 1992
anyplace in the nation, it was previously determined that
namkeen would have to advertise this product as a branded
product and sell it worldwide. They were the first to launch
branded namkeen, which allowed them to study and grow
the industry. The namkeen is packaged by a different
business, but the candy is made at each location.
In the past, Haldiram's produced between 50 and 60 distinct
types of chole-bhature. They quickly learned that not all of
the goods are of interest to customers. For a few essential
things, clients travel to their location. A consumer won't visit
them specifically to eat pizza or hamburgers. They'll visit
Pizza Hut or McDonald's. Because of the items that brought
consumers to their restaurant from such a far away, they had
to concentrate on their strong points.
Dosas, ice cream, Indian sweets, and North Indian appetisers
including samosas, pao bhaji, chole bhature, and namkeen
are all areas of specialisation for Haldiram's. Haldiram's will
maintain its position as its dominating one.
They first started with the showroom after they opened their
production facility in 1992 on Mathura Road. When they
didn't have a restaurant at the time, Pankaj's fat
introduced the fast-food idea sometime between 1994 and
1996, but only with a very small selection of items. Fast food
is now expanding more than sweets and snacks as a result.
The fast-food idea increased the popularity of their brand
name. The Mathura Road location ultimately turned the
corner for Haldiram's commercial career.
Pankaj asserts that Haldiram's lacks a clearly articulated
vision. They just want to give their clients the finest service
possible. The only vision is that.
Due to space restrictions, the production capacity of
namkeen on Mathura Road is constrained. Therefore, they
began production in Gurgaon a few years ago. They intended
to move all of their namkeen production from Mathura Road
to Gurgaon.

 System’s Viewpoint
The fact that Haldiram entered the fast-food restaurant
industry was purely an accident. In order to launch a fast-
food restaurant in 1996–1997, they didn't concentrate on it.
They specialise mostly on Indian desserts like namkeens.
Chandni Chowk, Lajpat Nagar, and Mathura Road are the
additional subdivisions. Each of these is an old unit. The
workers are accustomed to a specific way of working. It will
thus be challenging for them to change.
Haldiram's hasn't done any research to upgrade their current
systems. They are a young corporation with well-established
procedures. According to global standards, it is still a
relatively tiny business. It is a family-owned business with
very little outside involvement. Professionalism is still lacking,
thus. Everything is proceeding according to custom. There
isn't a system as such.
Pankaj is in charge of the project in Gurgaon. They are
putting into place all the mechanisms that they were unable
to properly put into place at the Mathura Road site. These
systems include ones for purchasing, maintenance, quality
control, finances, and manufacturing, among others. This
emphasis on systems is a result of their alleged shortcomings
in this field. They desire to overcome certain internal
weaknesses they have. Due to the project's status as a green
field, they could undertake it in Gurgaon. To achieve the best
results, some experimenting is required. If such initiatives are
effective in this unit, they can be replicated in other units as
well.
Because their work is more labour-intensive and they are
more familiar with their employees than any outside
organisation, they have not yet brought any professionals in
to try to assist with this system building component. They
must also do it in their own style. They are unable to employ
any food technologists since doing so would require them to
reveal their recipe.
At present in Gurgaon, they are looking more into:
(1) Controlling their costs,
(2) Focus and study more on customer’s demands

Haldiram’s quest to become a global

brand name

According to Pankaj, the reason why Indian fast food hasn't

gone worldwide is due to the peculiarities of products like
Rajkachauri, which require 10 different types of ingredients
to be added in order to create one. For instance, there are
two or three distinct types of spices after curd. Additionally, a
few of the substances have short shelf lives. The other factor
could be that no Indian businesses have made packaging
investments to extend the shelf life of fast-food products. In
contrast, western goods like burgers, pizzas, chips, etc. are
sold in western markets frozen and have a long shelf life. The
western businesses may easily ship their goods from America
to India. Due to frozen technology and a frozen supply chain,
they package, freeze, and deliver it.
It is possible to classify Haldiram's as an Indian fast-food
establishment. It doesn't compete with Pizza Hut, Domino's,
or even McDonald's because it isn't a Western fast-food
establishment.
For Haldiram's goods to potentially become a household
name, there is a sizable market on a worldwide scale.
They receive emails daily from companies looking to launch
franchises for fast food restaurants across many different
nations.

Challenges faced by Haldiram’s

A significant issue they encounter on a daily basis in the food

market is that Indian consumers still expect everything to be
fresh, with the exception of namkeens. Similar to perishable
candy, if you keep a box with packaging from yesterday and it
states it has a 20-day shelf life. He will ask me if I want it
fresh once more, offer me fresh candy, and pack it in front of
me.
This problem is what motivates Haldiram's to create better
packaging. They have chemists, a fully functional lab, etc. No
food technologists have been employed by them to create
their packaging. Everything is being done in-house.
  Competitors
Entrepreneurs from the south of India can enter the north
with solely south Indian cuisine. Therefore, their positioning
is distinct from Haldiram's positioning. A consumer could go
to a South Indian restaurant if they expressly wish to eat a
south Indian food. Haldiram's is unquestionably the family's
first pick, though, if each and every individual desires
something unique.
There are now just three significant competitors for
Haldiram's in the namkeen and snack market: Lehar, Pepsi,
and Frito Lay. This is because the market share of branded
namkeen in India is quite small when compared to the overall
namkeen sales in the nation. It accounts for 20% or 30% at
most of all namkeen sales in India. There are thousands of
regional makers selling loose namkeen in every city and town
in India. Therefore, it's really challenging to price compete
with them. Haldiram's cannot compete with them on price,
but Haldiram's finds it challenging to do so due to the high
costs associated with their whole supply chain, distribution,
and retail margins, among other factors. Customers in tiny
towns and villages demand high quality but cannot pay it.
They seek items at lower prices. Haldiram's currently only
have a little market share. Pankaj claims that namkeen
accounts for more than 90% of their overall revenue and fast
food only accounts for roughly 10%.
Haldiram's continues to hold the top spot in the namkeen
market. They are not close to Pepsi in the country, but if they
diversify from namkeen to other types of snacks like potato
chips or extruded snacks, Pepsi will have greater expertise
and knowledge because they have been in that industry for a
long time. Therefore, Haldiram's will find it quite challenging
to compete with them in that industry in terms of technology
and marketing.
They don't believe they need to contend with Pepsi. They
must develop their own market because, if they start off
thinking they must compete with Pepsi, they will require
some sort of marketing and advertising resources. Due to
Pepsi's fifty to sixty distinct products, they would then need
to be so strong that they could compete with them.
Haldiram's won't be doing much advertising. They employ
independent distributors. Due to their lack of funds, they will
be distributing via them, and the advertising will be very low-
key.
The only way Haldiram can conceivably grab a certain niche
of the larger market is by creating one of their own
marketplaces rather than directly competing with Pepsi. This
is more a form of guerrilla warfare. It will take time, but that
is the appropriate approach since, according to Pankaj, it is
very impossible to survive if one goes out and fights Pepsi
immediately away.

 Franchise opportunities
As previously mentioned, Haldiram's is creating its own
internal systems. They don't want to expand until they are
internally strong. In contrast to their rivals, Haldiram's does
not desire to quickly and widely distribute franchisees. They
would want to expand smoothly while also maintaining
control over everything.
They most certainly want to provide their franchisees. They
would rather limit their selection than franchise all of their
higher-end items. As a result, they will solely concentrate on
their main offerings, such as Indian chat, papri chat,
golgappas, and Indian snacks like chole-bhature, pao-bhaji,
and tikkis. Along with the sweets, they also want to distribute
franchisees for that. They want to advertise both of these
items simultaneously under one brand.
Haldiram's prefers to be close to Delhi in order to keep
control and deal with the first issues more skilfully. Perhaps
they might even approach it in a different way by purchasing
a location, making all the necessary investments, and
managing it like a franchisee. Like now, they oversee each
outlet directly. They go to that location, but they can adapt
that strategy to deal with franchisees so they can learn from
it and at the same time, they don't harm their brand
reputation since everything will be handled internally. As a
result, the model may be changed at any time. In Delhi, there
is a huge potential. In the west and east of Delhi, they don't
have any stores. They want to launch in Delhi to gauge the
response from clients, the franchisee's turnover, expenses,
and other factors.
  The concept of frozen technology
Due of the low volume involved, companies don't perform
research for frozen samosas but do for frozen pizzas and
burgers.
Samosas and parathas are both readily available frozen in
America. There, such technology is already in use, but
because of India's subpar infrastructure for frozen goods, the
whole cold chain is either absent or ineffective. Typically,
Indian stores lack a frozen refrigerator. As a result, India will
take some time for frozen goods.
There are several Indian items that might respond to the
freezing idea. A nice place to start with frozen technology is
with frozen samosas and tikkis.
The export market is the primary market for these kinds of
frozen goods or ready-to-eat vegetables because of this. The
export market is the initial market, regardless of whether the
product is frozen or under normal circumstances. Indian
market will require some time.
Haldiram's would have to work hard to build the Haldiram's
brand name if they didn't want international businesses to
consider Haldiram's as a source from which they could
purchase products to market across the rest of the world.
Pankaj concurs, saying that they are open to partnerships
with major worldwide businesses that can purchase frozen
samosas and resell them in their local marketplaces as long
as they are profitable.
Haldiram's is now investigating the technique and how it
works. They plan to experiment with freezing products and
find out how long Indian goods would last when frozen. The
flavour of the frozen samosas and the fresh ones will also
need to be compared in order to determine whether or not
the general public will accept them. They will initially launch
the frozen concept in one of their stores.
Pankaj claims that except the food industry, Haldiram's is not
trying to expand into any other industries. Only food is their
area of expertise. There is no use in them making anything,
like televisions, as it is not their area of competence.
Anyhow, colour TV manufacturers are in no way profitable.
Haldiram's won't enter the market because there is so much
competition and the chances of making money are slim.