Who are India’s modern mithaiwalas?

Traditional desi sweets are being re-packaged and prettified in ways never done before

Recently, Mumbai's Willy Wonka-like mithai outlet, Bombay Sweet Shop, started delivering all over the country, with a listing on Amazon. "To be honest, we're being quite pessimistic—we feel like we will see about a 30 per cent increase in volumes," says Yash Bhanage, COO and partner at Hunger Inc Hospitality, of Bombay Sweet Shop, about putting their products online.

Yet, given the wider reach, Bhanage's modest projection should easily be surpassed. The brand plans to deliver its products across the country through its website as well. In a market flooded with smaller halwais, mithai shops and trusted brands like Haldiram's, Brijwasi Sweets, Sri Krishna and K C Das—the traditionalists in the mithai world—where do Bombay Sweet Shop and its contemporaries fit in?

Market watchers say there is plenty of room. Ankur Bisen, a senior partner at Technopak Advisor, says, "Mithai is a segment which is growing into a packaged food play, and in that packaged food play, the products have a pan-India appeal." There is a second broad category that Bisen describes as a food services play, which implies, "Perishability is there. It has to be produced and consumed in a specific time frame. You have local halwais and mithai shops. They cater to local demand, and within 12 hours, the product is manufactured and consumed."

Change is the constant

With this distinct segmentation, it might seem like different brands cater to each type of consumer. The last two years have accelerated the push by brands to grab some of the packaged food markets while also appealing to local shoppers who value their ties—based on nostalgia, tradition and convenience—with their neighbourhood halwai.

Anjan Chatterjee, founder and CMD of Speciality Restaurants, that owns Sweet Bengal, reiterates that the last two years have been challenging. "When businesses had to shut shop due to COVID-19 restrictions, we knew the only way to survive was to operate from the factory and use our restaurant units as points of delivery." Even so, the company had to close one store last year—it has 34 locations across Mumbai and Kolkata today, from which it delivers its well-loved kesar sondesh, rosogolla and malai toast.

Like Chatterjee says, since 2020, much has changed—whether the pandemic and the attendant rise of delivery to keep business running or the rise of a new breed of mithaiwallahs that have given the traditional sweetmeat an international spin. At Bhawan and Khoya in Delhi and Bombay Sweet Shop in Mumbai, each marries time-honoured technique with Western pastry flavours and often, a toning down of the overwhelming sweetness. That results in a per mithai cost that is drastically higher than traditional shops where mithai is sold by weight, not piece.

While new age shops will have gift boxes of six to nine motichoor laddoos priced at anything between ₹500-1100, a Haldiram package would probably be priced at ₹315 for 500 grams. Given the success of these brands, it's clear that Indians love their mithai across the price spectrum.

Emotional connect

There's also the fact that Indian mithai was losing its sheen in the decade prior. Worries about hygiene standards at the point of production, quality of ingredients, sugar content, and a certain stasis means that the new urban consumer was looking elsewhere for their sweet tooth cravings. It's no surprise that consumers have shifted to packaged foods, especially chocolate gift boxes.

In 2020 though, the Federation of Sweet and Namkeen Manufacturers, an industry body, noted that all-India sales that year in the sector crossed ₹1 lakh crore for the first time. It should be noted that the figure included bhujia, a variety of mixes and other packaged savoury products, and the spending on mithai. The sweet market, more occasion-based and often with a shorter shelf life, is a subset of the total sales figure.

No wonder then that a host of upstarts have worked to re-engineer the humble laddoo, while local favourites have managed to stay relevant thanks to the resurgent interest in regional Indian flavours and techniques, not to mention the pull of nostalgia that draws customers back. Says Saurabh Monga, who now works in the Middle East, "For me, it's an emotional connection. Punjab Sweet House [in Mumbai], for example, is a place we've always gone to for our Diwali motichoors."

Festive boom

Diwali and its impact on these brands are huge. Sameer Seth, CEO and partner at Hunger Inc Hospitality, says, "In India, sweets and mithai are socially and culturally entwined. When we celebrate or even when we grieve, sweets become an integral part of it." As a result, it keeps refreshing its offerings, keeping in mind upcoming festivals and celebrations. Chatterjee also stresses the importance of three festivals—Holi, Raksha Bandhan and Diwali—as sales drivers. He calls these "the needle movement times" because that's when customers are drawn to stores, accounting for 40 per cent of Sweet Bengal's yearly sales.

A brand's ability to make the most of each festival depends on its offerings and ability to engage with their customer and various channels to close a transaction. Mithai by Roseate is a brand born based on customers' desire for more innovation. And innovate they did, with items like a flaxseed laddoo, caramelised sugar ladoo and walnut peda added to the menu.

Says Kush Kapoor, CEO of Roseate Hotels and Resorts, "The mithai offering is not just a product but a brand extension for us. It is a luxe offering prepared using exclusive recipes and fresh seasonal ingredients packaged beautifully for a bespoke gifting experience. Mithai By Roseate became a preferred gifting option for our patrons, especially during the festive season.

As Kapoor mentioned, there is a greater emphasis on the quality and the variety of ingredients used. Most new mithaiwallas see it as necessary since their new formulations call for less sugar. As a result, there's the expectation of nuanced flavours because of the ingredients and the processes involved, whether roasting coconut or dry fruits or sourcing the right fruit for seasonal items.

Rahul Dua, co-founder of Delhi-based Bhawan, explains, "Having grown up in Bombay, we were excited to introduce Delhi to authentic Aamras made with certified Ratnagiri Alphonso mangoes last summer and even showcase Mahabaleshwar strawberries in the winters with strawberry shrikhand stuffed choux buns."

Khoya's promoter Sid Mathur is very clear that he wanted to up the ante, "I thought, let's upgrade the ingredients." And he noticed the improvement in taste almost immediately. He adds, "The quality of sugar, especially in India, is compromised by the preservatives or additives it includes, leading to a change in the flavour. We use organic sugar, which has no sulphur, no additives, no preservatives—I feel that helps us balance the flavours. You end up enjoying the ingredient that you actually need to taste, be it badam or kaju or pista." This justifies costs and sets the brand apart from the more traditional halwais.

The pandemic may have accelerated the transformation towards digital sales, but as Bisen notes, it's also pushed companies to retail to a wider audience while continuing to deliver the sweetmeats that today's millennials have grown up with. With restaurants now hiring halwais for their mithai offerings, like Mumbai's Iktara has done, it's clear that our love for laddoos is here to stay. As the two mithai movements converge, it seems inevitable that even traditional shops will move beyond chocolate barfis to offer more—proving that there's never been a better time to indulge your sweet tooth.

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