Cherry on top

It’s 25 years since the first Kookie Jar opened on Rawdon Street.

It’s the birthday of Sonal Singh’s sister and the 23-year-old wants to celebrate in style. There’ll be a party, of course, with close friends and family, and a cake — which will come from Kookie Jar, as always.

Singh is not the only one in Kolkata who swears by Kookie Jar, which completes 25 years this year. Started in 1985 by Lovey Burman, Kookie Jar began as a small, round-the-corner bakery-cum-cafe on Rawdon Street. It didn’t take long for Burman’s platter of cake, pastries, some quiches, patties and sandwiches to catch on. Perhaps it was the presence of the La Martiniere schools nearby, and the students who started thronging the place in large numbers, that made Kookie Jar the hippest hangout in no time.

Kookie Jar came at an interesting time, just before economic liberalisation had fattened purses, and loosened them as well. Until then, the only real bakery in this city of sandesh and rosogolla was Flury’s. But over time, the iconic tea-room had lost its edge.

Flury’s, of course, went in for a makeover a few years ago and reclaimed its preeminence in the palates of Kolkatans. But Kookie Jar, too, has enough loyalists to have not just done well but also expanded, with outlets in various parts of the city and inside city malls. Such is Kookie Jar’s popularity today that there is a Kookie Jar fan group on Facebook with over 5,000 members.

One reason for Kookie Jar’s success is that it has not gone in for the franchisee model, as other confectioners have done in order to maximise profitability. “We never wanted to compromise on quality, hygiene and the freshness of our products,” explains Puja Kapur, director, Kookie Jar Foods which last year posted revenues of more than Rs 15 crore.

Kookie Jar was one of the first bakeries in the city to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure in order to ensure that its products met high standards of hygiene. This has also given the company an edge over its competition. Of course, the fact that prices start at a very reasonable Rs 20 has helped, too, in a market that is known for being conscious of value-for-money.

Since 2005, the company has been on an ambitious growth path. It hired the Costa Group, an Italian interior design firm that specialises in public eateries, to aid in this expansion. In 2006, the company diversified further with Mangio, an all-day diner offering a diverse range of world cuisines.

It has not been a smooth ride all through for Kookie Jar, however. A few years ago the company weathered a major crisis when some of its employees left and set up a venture along the same lines as Kookie Jar, with recipes taken from their former employer. “They sabotaged the brand name,” recalls Kapur. Luckily the company pulled through by running an ad campaign to dissociate themselves from the renegade confectioners.

Kookie Jar’s success story, especially that of its founder Lovey Burman — who famously started out from a home kitchen and today has a sprawling workshop and a central kitchen employing scores of chefs — has been much feted. Burman won FICCI’s “best woman entrepreneur” award some years ago.

As for her immediate plans, Burman wants to open two more Kookie Jars in the city and, sometime soon, expand to other metros in the country.