- Society

Gulatis of Nany’s plan new ‘flavours’ for Doon
By Aastha
Dehradun, 29 July: Nany’s Bakery has seen three generations of leadership since 1985. Started by Krishan Lal Gulati, it passed on to DK Gulati and now Varun Gulati is the new face in the business.
Varun Gulati is active, both, at the outlet as well as at the production unit.
The first outlet of the famous Ellora’s, i.e. Old Ellora’s, was started on Rajpur Road. The family has been in the confectionary business since the 1950’s and also owns the popular Melting Moments.
While Varun and his dad look after the Nany’s outlet, Old Ellora’s and Melting Moments are looked after by Surendra Gulati and Virendra Gulati, respectively.
DK Gulati explains that both the names, Ellora’s and Nany’s, were thought of by their father, Krishan Lal Gulati. While Ellora’s was named after Ajanta and Ellora, Nany’s was named after a ‘dharamshala’ which had a great image of keeping visitors happy.
After completing his schooling from St Joseph’s Academy, Varun went on to pursue his hotel management degree from IHM, Aurangabad. He worked as a chef with the Taj Group in Delhi and then came back to join his dad in the family business.
“I was fortunate enough to work with several chefs of international fame. I started as a baker and also helped in getting together a high end Japanese restaurant as well at the Taj in Delhi. We worked on taking Indian food to the international level,” he recalls.
He returned just eight months ago and his dad is happy with the kind of experience Varun has acquired at the young age of twenty five.
Since his school days, Varun was keen on taking up either hotel management or Chartered Accountancy as a career. However, by the time he reached class twelve, his kitchen skills took over from his interest in accounts.
DK Gulati’s younger son is working with ‘Hyatt’, while his daughter is still in school.
Varun believes in bringing in new ideas to the bakery business and so he very recently organised a summer sandwiches fest at his outlet thus introducing a new range of sandwiches for their customers.
Varun claims Dehradun and Hyderabad have the best bakeries. He says that he owes a lot of his exposure to varied experiences to his education.
On being asked about the challenges he faces in the Dehradun market, he describes the difficulties caused by the close ended market trend here. “I am slowly trying to introduce more products at the store. We are trying to develop new tastes and getting people to accept them. It is happening, but at its own slow pace. We are providing high end new items at a reasonable rate. When we introduce new products, making money is easy, but it is very difficult to get the market to accept new tastes. But the local market has become more exposed, as people travel more and are more informed,” he explains.
This enterprising youngster very often attends food workshops and festivals all over the country to develop the art of blending and to pick up innovative ideas.
Nany’s also now takes orders for theme parties and DK Gulati pats his son’s back with pride for a Hawaiian theme catering managed by him.
They plan to expand the outlet soon and also plan to start a restaurant in the city.
The dynamic young Varun is now all set to help his uncle establish a commercial bakery. They intend to supply biscuits, stick-jaw toffees and rusks all over the country.
The Gulatis plan Delhi to be their next major plunge, with one from among the third generation looking after the business there.
The father and son love to work with each other, though they do have their differences of opinion!
While the dad feels comfortable working in the style of the past several years, the son bombards him with new ideas constantly.
“My dad feels that the way he is working is the only way to go, while I have a new way of thinking. But after a little convincing, I get my way and now I am winning their confidence.”
With his eight months of experience, here, Varun has learnt to understand people’s attitudes as well.
Now, they also do customisation of products. By this Diwali, they will also take personalised and innovative orders for chocolates. Varun accepts the fact that people come to them due to their long and reliable branding, but deeply wishes to make his contribution and add his personal touch to it.
The Gulatis boast about the strong bonding among all three brothers and describe different segments of customers as a strong factor that keeps rifts away.
Varun, in his free time loves to visit Orchards, or drive up to Mussoorie. He laughs about his father taking a back seat in business ever since he joined, and describes the feeling as ‘ecstatic’.