The 75-year-old
Yazdani Bakery is a classic example of 
merging
the old with the new. Situated in Mumbai’s Fort area, this bakery was
started in the pre-Independence days when its owner Merwanji Zend opened
the bakery at 3 am and the priests from the nearby fire-temples came
for their early morning brun-maska. The priests may have given way to
formally-dressed executives, but the product they come looking for still
remains the same.
Although
the physical appearance of the bakery with its high pagoda-like roof
may suggest that time has stood still here, the bakery has adapted to
changed times. It is this adaptability that has helped Yazdani remain
a favourite with old clients and at the same time attract a whole new
loyal customer base.
The changes
made in the bakery may seem insignificant but they have contributed
to its retaining its position as one of the most popular bakeries in
Mumbai. This change should also be seen in the context that most bakeries
in the unorganised sector (unorganised sector constitutes 80% of the
bread market) are totally dependent on manpower to make their products.
Since power supply is unreliable and expensive, most bakeries still
use old-fashioned woodfire ovens for baking and hands and sometimes
feet for kneading the dough. It is only in the last few years that mixing
machines have made headway in small bakeries.
What has
helped bring about the adaptation to times is the enthusiasm of Zyroz
Zend, who has introduced a range of new products while not distancing
one self from the bakery’s original products like the age-old ladi pav.
While earlier
the dough used to be mixed by hand on a long stone platform, now a mixer
is used instead. And, while in the past there were only basic ladi pav
and sliced bread available, now there is a whole range of breads to
choose from.
But the
most significant change that has come is the shift from a woodfire oven
to a diesel powered one. “We realised that one cannot continue to run
the bakery like it was in the past, and that changes like automation
are necessary. At the same time, one has to keep the prices low so making
the bakery fully automatic is not feasible. Therefore, we have tried
to achieve is a balance,” says Zend.
A balance
one surely finds at Yazdani. In the actual bakery, at the rear of the
building a large diesel oven stands next to a woodfire one. The workers
have adapted to the new oven and are equally at ease with both kinds
of baking which starts in the wee hours of the morning and the first
bread is sold to the early morning clientele at 4 am. Says Zend, “The
diesel oven gives one the flexibility to bake whatever one wants as
the temperature can be adjusted. This was not possible in the woodfire
oven, which can reach a temperature of 350 C.”
Wood has
to be put in the old oven at 12.30 am. Thanks to the heat of the oven,
which has been used the entire day, this wood gets completely dry in
the next three hours. Once the wood is dry, it lights up immediately.
The wood is then moved on one side of the oven while the remaining space
is filled with iron trays full of dough. At one time this oven can bake
1,200 pavs.
The problem
of using woodfire oven is that once it is heated, the temperature cannot
be adjusted, so one has to bake accordingly. Therefore the items, which
need to be baked at the highest temperature are baked first, then come
the ones, which need a slightly lower temperature.
This disadvantage
has been done away with in the diesel oven where one can adjust temperatures
and get the entire oven heated in 20 minutes instead of the three hours
needed for the woodfire oven. Also, it has special features like sprinklers
on the tops to enable sprinkling of oil or water on the baked items
to give them a glazed look etc.
While
the diesel oven has allowed Yazdani to gain control over temperature
adjustment and thus customise production to market demands, it has also
helped it introduce new products. With the new oven have come in a whole
range of new products like apple pie, raisin bread, bran bread, cookies
etc. The company has, therefore, moved up the value chain thereby transforming
the business from the high volume low margin game to a mix of high volume
low margin and high margin low volume business. The result: Yazdani
is a place where international ambassadors, foreigners from various
embassies and multinationals as well as the corner-paan-beedi shop-owner
find something that appeals to their tastebuds and pocket. “I want to
introduce many more kinds of breads. But the problems faced by Yazdani
are the same as those faced by other bakeries. The ingredients are not
the same as those available abroad. So we have to make do with available
grains and flour. We want to make rye bread but that is not available
in India,” he says.
While
Yazdani makes wholewheat buns, bread sticks, pizza bases, khari biscuits,
Spanish buns (made from multiple grains and has a special ingredient-
watermelon seeds), brown breads, farmer’s bread, polis, dinner rolls,
bread puddings, baguettes. Fruit buns etc, it is the ladi pav that the
bakery prides itself on which takes four hours to make and is sold at
just 75 paise each.
|
Advantage
Automation
|
|
THEN
|
NOW
|
| Cater
to the lower end of the market with plain baked products |
Increased
customer base. Include th epremium segment with new range of products |
| High
volume, low margin game |
Move
up the value chain, play both the volume and the value card |
| Woodfire
oven didn't allow flexibility in production |
Diesel
oven enables customising production to market needs |
“My grandfather
Mehrwan Kabir Zend used export wedding cakes to Japan in pre-Independence
days. He used to have a bakery in Grant Road. Every morning he would
to sell bread on a handcart from Parel to Churchgate. It was a humble
thing to do, one which gave him total job satisfaction.” The same tradition
continues today with Zyroz, the third generation in the business.
Today
Yazdani bakery supplies bread to most of the luxury hotels in Mumbai.
Their clients include – Taj Mahal Hotel, Marine Plaza, The President,
The Oberoi, Ambassador and almost all the restaurants in the Fort and
Ballard Estate areas of south Mumbai.
“Making
ladi pav is not at all profitable. It needs intensive labour and long
hours. Also, the profit margin in bread is not high. I can make 150
kilos of bread with one 90 kg bag of flour. Whereas, making sweet biscuits
out of the same 90 kgs of flour is more profitable for me. But, then
bread is what our primary product is so we cannot stop making it,” he
says. In future, Zend wants to start making masala bread, mint bread,
melba toast and of course rye bread, provided he can find the grain
in India.
-
Prajakta Samant
