Snack success

Pune’s Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale is world famous for its unique bakarwadi

The Chitales, of Pune’s Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale sweets-and-savouries shop, hail from Limbgoa near Satara, where they once had a dairy. In 1935 Bhaskar Chitale went bankrupt and decided to make a fresh start elsewhere. He moved to Bhilwadi near Pune, from where milk and curd used to be supplied to Mumbai.

That bane of business, delayed payments, led Bhaskar Chitale to decide that just producing was not enough — he had better do his own marketing and distribution as well.

His sons Bhausaheb and Rajabhau had moved to Pune to establish the business there. They started a business of milk distribution in the city, while their father’s brothers Nanasaheb and Kakasaheb took care of production in Bhilwadi.

 

The Chitales started making sweets in 1950. In 1954 they set up a shop near Deccan Gymkhana. (There is now another outlet on Bajirao Road.) At first they sold only dairy products, but soon “Bombay mixture” was added. Their legendary bakarwadi, however, dates from around 1970. This is what established the Chitale brand and reputation. Bakarwadi is a savoury snack which looks like a small salty Swiss roll.

“The last three generations of our family have been buying Chitale bakarwadi,” says Ulka Kulkarni, 54. “My grandchildren, too, are fans. My son Kaivallya is pursuing education in Canada, and every alternate month we have to dispatch a pack of fresh bakarwadi to him and his friend-circle there.”

Poonam Samant, 29, says, “It’s crispy-crunchy and I can munch on it anytime. The stuffing is different from the usual bakarwadi. Even people coming from Mumbai take along Chitale’s bakarwadi.”

Sagar Joshi, 37, an expat IT professional, is another fan. “In Chicago, I can get it in stores. I gift it to my friends in the USA and even they like it.”

Kulkarni says, “My parents used to stand in queues to buy grain at ration shops. I relate those queues with the queues outside Chitale shop for bakarwadi.” Indira Gandhi, it is said, would ask specially for Chitale’s bakarwadi.

Over the years, the Chitale technique of making bakarwadi and other sweets has changed drastically. Now they are mixed, rolled flat, sprayed with masala, rolled up, fried and packed by imported machines. Shirikrishna Chitale, a partner in the family concern, explains how this happened. “Initially, we were making around 100-200 kg of bakarwadi,” he says. “Later demand increased and we started looking at mechanisation. In 1985 we started the hunt for machinery. After two years of research, we imported machines from Sweden and Holland. We made changes according to our needs and since 1989 our bakarwadi is made on these machines. We produce 3 tonnes of bakarwadi daily.”

Bakarwadi is a Gujarati delicacy. Bhausaheb and Rajasaheb Chitale, however, tweaked the recipe to suit the Marathi tongue. Their bakarwadi is thus a highly successful culinary fusion.