Parle-G is a name that instantly brings back tons of childhood memories for many of us, right? Enjoying our morning and evening tea with these biscuits was a big part of our childhood.?
But are you aware of the history of this iconic brand, how it came into existence and captured almost every Indian¡¯s heart and household? Let's unfold the story of Parle-G for you!
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The year was 1929. Deeply influenced by the Swadeshi movement (which promoted the production and use of Indian goods), Mohanlal Dayal of the Chauhans, a Mumbai-based family of silk traders, bought and refurbished an old factory to manufacture confectionery (such as boiled sweets), as per a report in The Better India.
He had sailed to Germany a few years ago to learn the art of confectionery-making and then returned with the required skills as well as the required machinery (imported from Germany for Rs 60,000).
Located between the villages Irla and Parla, a small factory was set up by the Chauhans with just 12 men, with the family members themselves serving in multiple capacities as engineers, managers, and confectionery makers.
Interestingly, it is believed that the founders were so busy managing the factory that they forgot to name it.
So, with time, the first Indian owned confectionery brand in the country came to be known after its place of birth- Parle.
Parle¡¯s first product was orange candy. It was only 10 years later that it began its biscuit making operations in 1939.
Back then, biscuits were mostly imported, expensive and meant for consumption by the elite classes.?
It was to counter this trend that Parle Products launched Parle Gluco as an affordable source of nourishment for the common masses. Made in India, meant for Indian palates and accessible to every Indian, the biscuit quickly became popular with the public.
In 1960, Parle Products started feeling the pinch when other players such as?Britannia?came into the market to launch their own glucose biscuits. Confused by similar brand names, most people would just ask shopkeepers for glucose biscuits, as per The Better India report.
To avoid confusion, Parle adopted new packaging that was a yellowish wax-paper wrapper with a plump little girl imprinted on it, along with the brand name and company¡¯s red-coloured logo.
But this new packaging still failed to decisively distinguish Parle Gluco from other ¡°me-too¡± glucose biscuit brands in the market.?
So in 1982, Parle Gluco was repackaged as Parle-G, with the ¡®G¡¯ standing for glucose, of course. To avoid duplication by small biscuit-makers, the packaging material, too, was reportedly changed to low-cost printed plastic. And Parle products have not looked back since then!
Today, the company boasts of astounding sales figures of over a billion packets a month. That is reportedly around a hundred million packets of Parle-G every month, or 14,600 crore biscuits in the entire year, which adds up to 121 biscuits each for 1.21 billion Indians.
Many of Parle-G¡¯s perfectly-executed campaigns, coupled with the biscuits¡¯ reliable quality, are among the key reasons for the brand¡¯s success over the years.?
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(h/t: The Better India)
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