Nirula's

Nirula's is India's oldest fast food restaurant chain.[1][2] Based in North India and most popular in the NCR Delhi. It was Delhi's first fast food restaurant, opening in Connaught Place in 1977. Today it has over 70 outlets in NCR Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh states, offering a "Desi" version of Western fast food items.
Nirula's success has led them to branch out into other ventures which include, ‘Potpourri’, an Indian cuisine, casual dining restaurant chain; ‘Nirula's 21’, ice cream parlour chain, in addition to pastry shops and two hotels in Noida and Panipat.[3][4] Recently Nirula's opened its first franchise in Patna, their first outlet in the entire east zone.[5]

Nirula's
TypePrivate
IndustryQuick Serve Restaurants
Founded1934 (1934)
FounderLC Nirula
M Nirula
Headquarters
Delhi
,
India
Number of locations
71
Area served
North India (focus: NCR Delhi)
Key people
Sumant Bhargava(CEO & Director)
ProductsFast food, Indian cuisine, ice cream, pastry
OwnerColdsmiths Retail Services Private Limited
Websitenirulas.com

History

The chain traces its origins to "Hotel India",[6] which opened at the L-Block in Connaught Place (CP), New Delhi in 1934, by "Nirula Brothers", L.C. and M. Nirula; it had 12 rooms, a restaurant and a bar.[7] In 1940, on request of the Indian Coffee Board, they opened the Indian Coffee Shop in Janpath introducing espresso coffee, which became an instant success. Soon afterwards they launched two theme restaurants —‘La Boheme’, a Hungarian restaurant; and ‘Gufa’, an Indian restaurant.[1][8] In the 1950s, the 'Chinese Room' was opened, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Delhi. It is still on its original premises.

The 1970s saw Nirula's venturing into the fast food business with the opening of what became Delhi's first fast food restaurant in 1977,[9] to which was later added: a pastry shop, snack bar, hot shoppe, and an ice cream parlour. A subsequent addition was the adjacent, waiter-served "Potpourri" salad bar. By that time Nirula's was already a CP landmark, offering Western fast food such as burgers, pizzas, and submarines, plus an ice cream parlour offering 21 flavours.[10]

Nirula's kathi roll meal on an IndiGo flight

Expansion of the fast food business continued in the next two decades, with the opening of the ‘Central Kitchen’ and at the Chanakya cinema complex, Chanakyapuri, Defence Colony, Noida, Vasant Vihar, and various other locations in the NCR.[11] Before the arrival of several international restaurant chains in the 1990s, Nirula's remained a major draw for young people in the capital. In the following years, even after chains like McDonald's made inroads into its share, Nirula's retained 40 per cent of the Delhi market in 2000.[12][13] Even then, facing stiff competition from Nirula's, McDonald's had to "Indianise" its menu to suit Indian palates, while on its end, Nirula's added competitive pricing and revamped its interiors.[3][4][14][15]

To diversify its business, the group opened hotels, one in Noida and another in Panipat, and set up food processing plants in Noida, near Delhi.

Nirula's was also the first Western-style fast food restaurant in Kathmandu, Nepal, where it had two outlets, the main branch in Durbar Marg —where there currently is a KFC and a Pizza Hut on top, and a smaller branch on New Road. The best selling items were pizzas and ice cream. While both were already available in Kathmandu, they were offered at premium restaurants as gourmet versions and not as fast food.

Through the 1990s Nirula's faced heated competition from local and international fast food outlets and by 1995 there was only one Nirula's left in the city. The quality also went down and it soon closed its doors for good.

While Kathmandu is now teeming with fast food outlets, many still reminiscence about Nirula's as the place that they had their first pizza in. Their most popular pizza was the salami pizza, also their cheapest meat pizza.

Acquisition
Nirula's express outlet at Delhi Airport.

In 2006, Navis Capital Partners bought Nirula's.[9] In 2007, the original Connaught Place outlet moved to K-Block, Connaught Place, while the adjacent Potpourri moved to N block, Outer Circle.[8][13] Also in 2007, Nirula's opened India first ice cream museum inside its ice cream factory in Noida.[2][16] In the same year, the chain introduced three new outlet formats, including "Nirula's Express", Food Court Unit and Ice-Cream Kiosks, with the first Express outlet opening at the Delhi Airport.[17]

In 2012, Navis "agreed to sell its 100% stake in Nirula's Group," to A2Z Excursions Pvt. Ltd for an undisclosed amount.[18]

Today the chain has outlets across North India, in Dehradun, Indore, Meerut, Mussoorie, Panipat, Pathankot, and Udaipur.[11][19]

Famous Food Items
  • Hot Chocolate Fudge Sundae
  • Chilli Chicken Pizza
  • Banana Split
  • Pineapple Ice Cream Soda
  • Chicken Curry with Naan
  • Cakes and Pastries

Locations

Restaurant formats
  • Nirula's 'Family-style' outlets: Quick service with take-away, home delivery and online ordering
  • Nirula's Express: Take away-only
  • Fuel Station Outlets.
  • Potpourri: Fully waiter served, multi-cuisine restaurant chain
  • Nirula's 21: Ice cream parlours
  • Pegasus bar

References
  1. Seth, Pran Nath; Sushma S. Bhat (2006). "Nirula's: India's First Restaurant chain". Successful Tourism: Volume II: Tourism Practices. Sterling Publishers. p. 285. ISBN 81-207-3200-6.
  2. "Nirula's gives India its first ice cream museum". CNN IBN. 14 November 2007.
  3. "Fast food: Attention to local palates pays off". Financial Times. 28 January 2010. Popular Indian restaurants such as Nirula’s and Sagar Ratna, which specialises in south Indian food, are also expanding, with 60 to 70 locations each.
  4. "Battle of Burgers: Nirula's set to take on McDonald's". CNN IBN. 4 April 2008.
  5. "Nirula's opens outlet in Patna". Patna: Business Standard Ltd. (Press Trust of India). 23 October 2012.
  6. "Know Nirula's". Nirula's Corner House Pvt. Ltd. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  7. "'Lodged' in the heart of New Delhi". Hindustan Times. 30 August 2011. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011.
  8. Sinha, Bhadra (11 August 2005). "CP landmark Nirula's may soon be history". Times of India.
  9. Bhushan, Ratna. "Nirula's CEO bets on new market to turn around business". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  10. "Nirula's goes partly Malaysian". CNN IBN. 1 July 2006.
  11. "About us". Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  12. "Purani Dilli food: Nothing exclusive about it". The Pioneer. 1 February 2010.
  13. "Good old landmark is back in Connaught Place". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 2 March 2007.
  14. Collis, David J.; Cynthia A. Montgomery; Michael Goold (1999). Harvard Business Review on corporate strategy (Harvard Business Review). Harvard Business Press. p. 102. ISBN 1-57851-142-9.
  15. "And the winner is... butter chicken!". Indian Express. 9 October 2000.
  16. "A museum to tell ice cream story". DNA. 14 November 2007.
  17. "Nirula's to change outlet formats". Business Line. 23 January 2007.
  18. Ng, Jason (20 July 2012). "Navis Capital to Sell 100% Stake in Nirula's Group to A2Z Excursions". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  19. "Nirula's to add 140 new outlets by 2010". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 27 August 2008.
  20. "Locator". Archived from the original on 1 March 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
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