Bikanervala is an Indian multinational snack food company and

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

headquartered in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

that specializes in

Indian sweets This is a list of Indian sweets and desserts, also called ''Sweets from the Indian subcontinent, mithai'', a significant element in Indian cuisine. Indians are known for their unique taste and experimental behavior when it comes to food. Many In ...

and snacks. The restaurant chain has 150 locations both in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and globally.

History

In 1950 two brothers, Kedarnath and Satyanarayan Aggarwal, moved to Delhi from

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the States and territories of India, state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. It is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Fo ...

to plan an expansion of their traditional business. Initially the brothers set up a stall in

Chandni Chowk The Chandni Chowk (meaning Moonlight Square) is one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi, India. There is another location in Pune with the name Chandani Chowk. Located close to the Old Delhi railway station, the Mughal-era Red Fort ...

by the name of Bikaner Bhujia Bhandar (), on

Paranthe wali Gali Gali Paranthe Wali or Paranthe wali Gali (, literally "the bylane of flatbread") is a narrow street in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi, India, noted for its series of shops selling paratha, an Indian flatbread. History Gali Paranthe Wali is ...

. In the 1960s, they increased their line of products by including more varieties of traditional sweets and namkeens, and opened several shops as ''Bikanervala'' in prominent parts of Delhi, including

Karol Bagh Karol Bagh (also spelled Qarol Bagh, ) is a neighborhood in Central District of Delhi, India. It is a mixed residential and commercial neighborhood known for shopping streets, such as the Ghaffar Market and Ajmal Khan Road. It was home to th ...

. The present managing director of the company, Shyam Sundar Aggarwal, joined the family business in 1968. Then 16, he had just finished high school and had learned the art of making sweets from his father. In the 1980s, when the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

fast food

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

entered the Indian market, Aggarwal realized that there was an opportunity to explore more Indian products. Thus, the company opened several outlets in various parts of the country. In 1988, to take the brand globally, they launched Bikano to sell packaged sweets and namkeens. In 1995, the company entered into an exclusive agreement to produce namkeens for

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

's brand Lehar, opening a new plant in Faridabad,

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. The company opened Bikano Chat Cafes in 2003, which are quick service restaurants serving fast food with minimal table service. The Bikanervala and Angan restaurants serve traditional Indian snacks, sweets and namkeens. The company also launched a

boutique hotel Boutique hotels are small-capacity Hotel, hotels that provide more personalized service than typical hotels. They typically have fewer than a hundred rooms, and are considered more "trendy" and "intimate", often due to their location in urban ar ...

Banjara Hills Banjara Hills is an urban commercial centre and one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. This is an upmarket locality close to Jubilee Hills. This area was a hilly forest and was least inhabited in the past. Only a ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Lawsuit

In 2012 the company was

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

after being charged with selling adulterated products. It was alleged that the amount of synthetic dye used in the product exceeded the legal limit.

Operations

In India, the company has 42 outlets in the National Capital Region alone, and has as many as 12 outlets in the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

and 7 in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. Bikanervala is also present in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, and the US (two outlets each), and had a recent opening in Qatar. Manufacturing is based in Delhi, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and

Faridabad Faridabad () is the most populous List of cities in Haryana by population, city near NCT of Delhi in the Indian state of Haryana and a part of National Capital Region (India), Delhi National Capital Region. It is one of the major satellite citie ...

and

Rai (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

. Bikano products are exported to nearly 30 countries including Nepal, Pakistan, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Africa.

Awards

The company has been awarded one of the Best Sweet Shops in Delhi for 2012, 2013 and 2014 by ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' Food Awards.

References

{{reflist Confectionery companies of India Companies based in New Delhi Fast-food chains of India Food and drink companies established in 1950 Vegetarian companies and establishments 1950 establishments in India

History

Lawsuit

Operations

Awards

See also

References