A 'sweet' business legacy of 137 years and other top stories of the week

Kolkata is famous for its iconic sweet shops offering a myriad of delicacies. This festive season, SMBStory talked to one of the prominent shops: A family legacy and a well-known local brand among the residents.

Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick

Durga Puja calls for Kolkata being decked like a bride amid the festive buzz and sweet shops busy preparing popular sweets. Amongst the 1 lakh shops, Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick (BMRM) is the people’s choice. SMBStory caught up with Sudip Mallick, the fourth-generation entrepreneur of this 137-year-old family business, who is eager to make BMRM synonymous with Kolkata across the world.

BMRM founder Ganesh Chandra Mullick moved from Konnagar to Kolkata to work in a sweet shop in 1880. Five years later, he started his legacy in a rented 450-sq ft space at Bhowanipore (North Calcutta). After being handed down to three family members, the business landed in Sudip’s lap in 2003 and he started expanding. His hotel management degree from Bhubaneshwar helped him concoct with new recipes and innovate older ones. In a world of modernity and swanky brands, such businesses are keeping the family name alive.

In a market monopoly of milk sweets they introduced baked sweets which sold like hot cakes, with 99% of the sweets in BMRM shops made from milk, a general Bengali trend.

COVID-19 affected business during the lockdown period but eventually he was back on his feet.

BMRM is more than a sweet shop for its customers. Debolina Biswas, who now lives in Bengaluru, craves the baked rosogollas from BMRM and associated it with nostalgia and Kolkata. She introduced her parents to the store in college and till date they visit it whenever they’re in the city.“ Sudip has taken the legacy of BMRM forward in an admirable way but he realises the responsibility he is shouldering.

“We are one of the favourite brands of our people but staying here is an opportunity with a lot of responsibility. Every customer comes with an expectation. It feels very nice, but to be able to fulfil it is always a pressure,” he admits.

Sudip says he has no future plans to expand in India because he wants to keep the legacy BMRM local. But he does hope to go international and expand to Dubai and New Jersey, making BMRM synonymous with Kolkata.

Other top picks of the Week

RAD Living

From using candles for aromatherapy, Vineet Arora has gone to making them and building a lucrative business worth 85 lakhs alongside his mother Seema, over the course of a year. During the lockdown, he experimented with the possible variants of candles and aroma oils to tap the big market of candles in India. 2020 saw the birth of RAD Living, a premium soy wax candle company which is hoping to rake in nearly 2 crore by the end of the fiscal year of 2021 and competing with top players like Ekam, Niana and Doft Candles.

He started the company as a family project during the lockdown and brought out everyone’s entrepreneurial spirit. ‘The bright side of 2020’ was one of the first campaigns that it launched - from Vineet’s bedroom. Vineet attributes their success to their mother and her relentless dedication. The company’s brand makes it unique. He wanted to create varieties that would connect with everyone.

It’s an easy gifting option that can be customised. The collection sold out like hot cakes when it launched, he adds.

The company’s portfolio has flourished into 200 SKUs and new collections which get launched multiple times a year. They have now opened a production facility and office in Noida. They heavily monetize through the D2C (Direc-to-Consumer) approach, using social media ads as the main channel. On the first day, a Gurugram-based stylist and customer sent him an order and the business has been booming since then!

RAD Living is planning to bloom in the Indian fragrance and flavour industry worth $500 million. The mother-son duo has come a long way from making the first prototype to diversifying the range. Talking to SMB story, they talked about doing months worth of trials before launching in October 2020. However, the winter season proved to be a hurdle in the candle-making process because the temperatures weren’t optimal for the required product.

“I vividly recall as I poured one of the batches during mid-November for that first bulk order and waited for it to cool down, a few candles demoulded while the others had sinkholes,” Seema says.

After experimenting with the recipe, moulds and wax chemistry through sleepless days and nights, they managed to brave the obstacles and come this far. Now the company is growing its retail presence by setting up shop in Goa and aims to be placed at 100 more outlets by the year’s end. It has also partnered with Propshop, LBB Home, Jaypore, June Shop, and Amala Earth. Talking about future plans, Vineet is toying with the idea of expanding abroad because he’s looking for a well-established base to grow. But for the next five year, the company is expecting to grow exponentially as a home fragrance brand.

Ahmedabad’s National SC-ST Hub Conclave

In an attempt to promote inclusivity in business and strengthen the Indian economy, The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) organised a National SC-ST Hub Conclave in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on September 28 2022. Dr Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, was the chief guest. The event was attended by more than 300 SC-ST entrepreneurs.

Dr Solanki encouraged SC-ST entrepreneurs from Gujarat to avail benefits of the NSSH Scheme. It aims at capacity enhancement and promoting entrepreneurship amongst the SC- ST population for amplifying their participation in public procurement. Bankers were urged to prioritise credit support to the SC-ST entrepreneurs which would help augment their business capacities. He highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of providing jobs and stressed the participation of SC-ST entrepreneurs in strengthening the Indian economy.

Financial institutions like the State Bank of India and Yes Bank elaborated on various lending schemes for the MSME sector. Other government organisations participating in the programme presented various schemes to assist MSMEs. The conclave also had facilitation desks for UDYAM Registration and GeM registrations to help SC-ST MSE participants.