Bikanervala is an Indian restaurant chain headquartered in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, that specializes in

Indian sweets This is a list of Indian sweets and desserts, also called ''mithai'', a significant element in Indian cuisine. Indians are known for their unique taste and experimental behavior when it comes to food. Many Indian desserts are fried foods made wi ...

snacks A snack is a small portion of food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snack ...

. Founded 115 years ago as a sweets and namkeen shop called Lalji in Bikaner,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

. It was established in

almost seven decades ago. The brand is now worth Rs 1,300 crore (US$ 178 Million). It is one of India's largest restaurant chain with 94 locations both in India and globally.

History

In 1950 two members of the Lalji family moved to Delhi to explore new avenues for expanding their traditional business. Initially the Aggarwal brothers set up a stall in Chandni Chowk by the name of Bikaner Bhujia Bhandar in Paranthe Wali Gali. In the 1960s, they increased their line of products by including more varieties of traditional sweets and namkeens, and opened several shops as Bikanervala in prominent parts of Delhi, including Karol Bagh. The present Managing Director of Bikanervala Foods Pvt Ltd, Shyam Sundar Aggarwal, joined the family business in 1968. Then 16, he had just finished high school. Learning the art of making sweets from his father. In 1980s, when the western fast-food pizza entered the Indian market, Aggarwal realized that there was scope to explore more Indian products thus Bikanervala opened several outlets in various parts of the country. In 1988, to take the brand globally, they launched Bikano to sell sweets and namkeens in air-tight packaging. In 1995, Bikanervala entered into an exclusive agreement to produce namkeens for PepsiCo’s brand Lehar, opening a new plant in Faridabad,

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...

. While Bikanervala's packaged food products, including sweets and namkeens, are sold under the Bikano brand name, the company has opened Bikano Chat Cafes (2003) which are quick service restaurants serving fast food with minimal table service. The Bikanervala and Angan restaurants serve traditional Indian snacks, sweets and namkeens. Bikanervala has also launched a boutique hotel at

Banjara Hills Banjara Hills is an urban commercial centre and one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. This is an upmarket locality close to Jubilee Hills. This area was a hilly forest and was least inhabited in the past. Only ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

Outlets/Manufacturing Units

In India, the company has 42 outlets in Delhi NCR alone. while it has as many as 12 outlets in

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and 7 in Nepal. Bikanervala is also present in New Zealand and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and the US (two outlets each). Manufacturing is based in Delhi,

Noida Noida, short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Noida is a satellite city of Delhi and is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) o ...

(Uttar Pradesh),

Faridabad Faridabad is the most populous city in the Indian state of Haryana and a part of Delhi National Capital Region. It is one of the major satellite cities around Delhi and is located 284 kilometres south of the state capital Chandigarh. The ri ...

and

Rai RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(in Haryana).

Lawsuit

In 2012 the company was charged with selling adulterated products, but acquitted.

Exports

Bikano products are exported to nearly 30 countries including Nepal, Pakistan, US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Singapore and South Africa.

Brands

* Bikanervala * Bikano * Bikano Chat Cafe * Angan

Awards

Brand has been awarded the accolade of the Best Sweet Shops in Delhi for 2012, 2013 and 2014 by Times Food Award.

References

Confectionery companies of India Companies based in New Delhi Fast-food chains of India Food and drink companies established in 1950 Vegetarian companies and establishments 1950 establishments in India {{India-company-stub