Down the memory lane with Parle-G
- The company's website says Parle Products has a 40% share of the total biscuit market and a 15% share of the total confectionery market in India.
- According to a Catch news report, around 4,551 Parle-G biscuits are consumed every second and the product is available at more than 60 lakh retail outlets across the country.
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No matter how many cookie brands we have around, the crunchy golden brown glucose biscuits from Parle-G still have a loyal and strong fan following. One of the oldest existing biscuit companies in the country, the Mumbai-based company is not just another brand for many Indians.
If the Premier Padmini (Fiat) and Dyanora TV evoke nostalgic memories of the middle class Indian, this popular biscuit brand sweetened the memories of a larger population, cutting across classes.
After treating us for over 80 decades, the Parle-G factory in Vile Parle suburb of Mumbai, where the biscuit was first baked, has finally downed its shutters. The plant was set up in Vile Parle in 1929 for making candies, but in 1939 it started baking biscuits.
However, the closure of the plant at Vile Parle, doesn’t mean that the familiar biscuit brand would be off the shelves. It will still be produced from factories in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana. More than the biscuits, Mumbaikars will miss the mother factory, synonymous with the brand and the delicious smell of baking while passing by Vile Parle.
For the Chauhan family, the owners of the company, it must have been a difficult decision to take. Since production was negligible from the factory, it didn't make any commercial sense to keep it running. As many as 300 employees of the plant took voluntary retirement when closing was announced.
How well do you know this nostalgic brand:
There have been all kinds of theories as to who the 'little girl' on the cover was. Putting rumours to rest, an official with Parle-G said that it was an illustration by an Everest creative in the 60s.
The first set of biscuits were baked at the Vile Parle factory when the world was split between the Allies and Axis, heading for World War ll.
The First TV commercial for the brand was created in 1982.
In 2001, the makers decided to revamp the look of the brand and changed the packaging from wax paper to BOPP (Biaxially oriented polypropylene or plastic).
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