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 Nirula's, a well-known name in
the hospitality industry, had like all success stories a small
beginning. The Nirula's Family came to Delhi in 1928. The Nirula
brothers before going into the Hotel and Food Service Industry tried
their hand at various professions including running a pharmacy, optician
shop and a photo studio.
However, they soon realized the paucity of good eating-places in and
around New Delhi. Though completely new to the business, they began "HOTELINDIA"
in 1934 at Connaught Place with 12 rooms, a restaurant and a bar
license.
The starting of the 'Chinese Room' Restaurant and introduction of
espresso coffee for the first time in India by Nirula's was done in the
1950's. The 60's witnessed the opening of two specialty restaurants, La
Boheme a modern restaurant serving Hungarian food & Gufa an Indian
specialty restaurant. The 70s saw the company venture into the fast food
business with the Pastry Shop, Snack Bar, Hot Shoppe and Ice Cream
Parlour. The Potpourri restaurant with the first Salad Bar in India was
also opened in this period.
The eventful decades of 1980s & 1990s saw the opening of the Central
Kitchen and Family Style Restaurants at Vasant Vihar, Chanakya, Defence
Colony, Noida and numerous other strategic locations in the NCR.
Today, the Noida production facilities include the Bakery,
Confectionery, Cheese Plant, Ice cream Plant, Food Processing Unit and
Hot Kitchen.
Nirula's has widened its presence in North India with the opening of
restaurants in Panipat, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jaipur, Meerut
and Pathankot. Association with Indian Oil Corporation in 2005 witnessed
the opening of new Outlets at fuel stations at Dwarka, Punjabi Bagh,
Janakpuri, Gurgaon and Chandigarh. Nirula’s also has a National tie-up
with HPCL and has opened projects in Delhi, Jaipur, Pathankot and will
be opening another outlet in Behror (Delhi-Jaipur Highway) in the coming
year.
In June 2006, Navis Capital Partners and Managing Director, Samir
Kuckreja acquired the Nirula's Group of Companies.
After the acquisition, a new senior management team was created by
drawing the best talent in the industry. The new team at Nirula's
undertook a massive brand revamp exercise. While retaining the brand
name and logo of "Nirula's", new sub-brand logos were created for
Nirula's ice-creams, Pastry Shop, delivery business and others.
New graphics, logos, menu panels and packaging were created by
well-known designer Ms. Gopika Chowfla. Interior and exterior designs
were created by Lotus Designs. New staff uniforms were created by the
famous fashion designer Manoviraj Khosla.
Changes were also made to the service design by placing female Guest
Response Executives (GRE) in outlets. But the Nirula's Group retained
the USP of the brand in terms of wide menu choices and affordable
prices.
The Synovate Hotspots Report 2007 on India mentions Nirula's as the only
Indian food chain amongst MNCs to be in the top five in India. Nirula’s
has been presented a Gold Award in the category of Family Restaurants by
Reader’s Digest based on the Most Trusted Brands survey, 2009. Adding
another achievement to its profile, Nirula’s Ice Cream Museum has been
recorded for being the first Ice Cream Museum in “Limca Book of
Records”.
The company plans to venture into a large number of quick service
restaurants in every major city in India by the end of this year. With
an aggressive expansion strategy, the organization plans to have a
national presence by opening 150 new restaurants in the next 3 years.
These will include Restaurants, Ice cream kiosks and Express Ou.
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