A novelty makeover
This move to relaunch was made because the previous property belonged to the government. Jithendra shares, 'The building is a hundred year old, belonging to a temple. Before us, there was a provision store. Then in the 1950s, my father took over and started a tea stall there.'
On May 16, 1958, Jithendra's father, Chandrakanth Moolchand Shah, started a tea stall in a 200 sq.ft space. 'In those days, many North Indians came in from different parts of the country to the city in search of work. They used to get down at Central and walk to the nearby areas. My father used to sell them tea,' he recalls.
The regular tea costed 10 paisa, diamond tea (tea with more milk) was sold at 25 paisa and tea from pure buffalo milk with no added water was 50 paisa. The Shah business started making profits and soared in 1975. Hence, Chandrakanth rented another 200 sq.ft space and expanded the business to sell snacks. This also included pav bhaji — for which food lovers from far off places, from Tambaram to Tondiarpet, took a trip to Sowcarpet. Now, the same customers and their families drive down to Shenoy Nagar.
In 1979-80, Chandrakanth hired staff members and expanded to 400 more sq.ft and converted the tea stall into a restaurant. 'At that time, pav bhaji was `2 and 50 paisa. An extra pav was priced at 10 paise,' adds Jithendra. Customers were often enticed by the sights of pani puri packets stacked upon one another, the strong aroma of coffee, and the warmth of dim yellow lights.
This was also the time when Jithendra and his siblings joined the family business. In view of expansion, they opened and shut a number of restaurants in the city from 1976 — in Purasawalkam, Cathedral Road, and Egmore. 'We closed them for various reasons — unable to match the cost cutting with imposition of GST, the owner wanting the space back, and sometimes because of family,' expresses Jithendra.
But the seed of expansion was still germinating in his head and last year, Mahindra Jain, Ragupathy, and Vardharajan approached Jithendra for a partnership. 'The work started seven months ago. I am the franchise partner and the others are working partners,' he adds.
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