When we think of milkshakes a name that
immediately pops up in our minds is Keventers. The name has become synonymous
to milkshakes and is a pit stop for the perfect thirst quenchers packed with
oodles of fresh flavours and the goodness of milk. Interestingly, there is a
story behind these frothy milkshakes and the iconic, wide mouth glass bottles
which many of us don’t know.
It goes back to 1925, when Edward Keventer, a Swedish dairy technologist,
established his private limited dairy company in India. Following this,
Keventers slowly started emerging as a prominent Dairy Industry in India. The rapid
expansion of the business was followed by the establishment of branches in Aligarh,
Darjeeling, Calcutta, Shimla and later in Delhi. Simultaneously, they also
imported and sold dairy appliances, including the well known Alfa-Laval cream
separator, a boon to the thousands of dairymen who had previously no mechanical
means of separating cream from their milk.
By the 1940's, Ram Krishna Dalmia
acquired the Keventers dairy project and a company was created by the name
'Edward Keventers Successors'. After this point, things began to escalate
quickly. As the city of New Delhi grew and changed, so did the area of
Chanakyapuri, in which the factory was located. It became a prime diplomatic
area. Keventers therefore was no longer allowed to run its dairy factory there.
With water droplets forming over the bottles and red and blue aluminium foil caps, this nourishing produce used to arrive fresh
every morning. By 1960's, the name of Keventers soon became the most loved and
trusted in Delhi. But the proud dairy of Delhi which had been carefully planned
& located next to its market was forced to close its door.
Now, coming back to the present day, we visited the Keventers outlet,
located in the DLF Mall of India, Noida. Placed carefully in the food court,
the place attracts hundreds of people; you can see for yourself, enthusiasts
waiting in queue just to get a bottle of their favourite milkshake.
Like an ode to summer they have added four fruitilicious shakes to their
menu- blueberry, raspberry, mango and strawberry. Mango being a common flavour,
we went for the raspberry and blueberry, with just a sip you could make out
that it was not artificial flavouring but real fruit pulp that was blended with
milk. Packed with the flavour of fruit these were as fresh and fruity as they
can get.
Then we tried a Mint Oreo Crumble Thick Shake, crunchy sweet Oreo graced
with the freshness of mint, it depicted a perfect balance of flavour. To cut
the sugar rush we lastly decided to try their cold coffee and we were so glad
that we did, it was a little bitter and pleased our palate by cutting onto the
sweetness.
As said that love for some things can never turn old, we all cherished
those bottles that we got to keep. For some reason it makes for a much loved
possession. Currently,
the brand has 5 franchisees and is looking at adding 10-15 more every month.
The aim is to open about 1500 units. The model that has been set up is very
economical with low capital investment and high margins. Keventers outlets
are at Select City Walk, Dlf Cyber Hub, Epicuria, Pacific Mall and they will
soon be opening at the Ambience Mall and Connaught Place.
Till then, slurp slurp !!
Coverage By : Ritika Dhawan
Compiled By : Vickrham (vicky)
Email : vickrham.m@gmail.com