Today there won’t be a single Goan home which may have notheard or tasted Chandelkar’s pickles.
But for decades ago when late Gopinath Srinivas PrabhuChandelkar decided to manufacture pickles commercially the journey has beenslow and tough.
Late Gopinath, a sincere and hard worker faced difficultmarket conditions and even tougher circumstances. He did everything possible tomake his venture a success but failed miserably.
When he died he left a huge loan behind.
He may have failed to see his business grow and flourish butthe third generation Chandelkars embraced the family business with the samezeal and spirit.
“Perfection is unattainable. But if you chase it, you getexcellence, believed my grandfather, late Gopinath Srinivas Prabhu Chandelkarwho was the founder of Chandelkar Pickles and Spices,” said Saish Chandelkar,the grandson of Gopinath.
“My grandfather chased perfection all his life. Today, whenhe is no more, we realise how true he was and how well he had judged the pulseof the market,” adds Saish who is proud to carry both “ the legacy of hisgrandfather and his name.
Saish, a mechanical engineer joined the family business tenyears ago. His father Srinivas and uncles, Govind Namshikar, RaghunandanChandelkar and Mohan Chandelkar are jointly running the family business.
The family has divided work “ purchasing, marketing,distribution etc among themselves, so that duties don’t overlap and work is notduplicated.
Govind Namshikar takes care of the pickles division, whilethe other three brothers are into spices.
Late Gopinath first set up a factory manufacturing spicesand pickles in ’70s. But the idea failed to enthuse the average Goan, whopreferred homemade pickles to readymade ones.
But late Gopinath did not lose heart. He persisted with hisidea and carried on with his business, at times bearing huge losses.
He used every trick in the book to promote his business, butfailed to make a mark.
He passed away leaving a huge debt of Rs 1.5 lakh then, in1975, to his young sons.
On the night Gopinath passed away the family took a toughdecision: They would jointly pursue the business and work hard to bring it up.
“We wanted to accomplish our father’s incomplete dream,”shares Raghunandan.
From then on it was a testing time and a period ofexperiment for the Chandelkars.
The day would begin with single bread and a glass of milk. LateGopinath’s sons would set out for sale across the State by bicycles and buses.The ideals that their father left behind supported them in those difficulttimes.
“With family support and unity we could make it within fiveyears. We paid all debts. Our business started blooming and our brand reachedin every Goan kitchen,” boasts Mohan.
Today Chandelkar’s has 20-25 per cent of the market share.The monthly collective sales of spices are four to five tonnes. They now haveplans to export.
“We wish to reach out to every home outside Goa with ourreal Goan taste,” announces Gopinath’s eldest son Srinivas.
