Hidaytullah Ahmedmiyan Rasoolmiyan
In 1955, my father Ahmedmiyan Rasoolmiyan started making gollas (crushed ice on sticks with sharbat poured on top) from a cart in Ahmedabad. Life was hard and my parents would go without food when the sales were insufficient.
The key difference between my father and others in the trade, according to me, is that he was a very sensitive taster. My father could select flowers and fruits for extracting sharbat, not only picking top quality flowers, but the ones at the right stage of the lifecycle of a flower when the petals should be distilled for sharbat. . A real challenge for competitors was his range of unique fusion combinations, he made surethat the flavors don’t blend but stand out like “Almond and Pistachio”, “Ginger-Lemon” etc.
Using this expertise, he began to make formulations that were unique. As the gollas were appreciated, he started selling sharbat too. I joined the business in the late ’80s, when i was in college. We started our flagship outlet in Dariyapur in 1984 selling faloodas, sharbats, ice-creams topped with sharbat, etc. I worked on improving the technology, getting mechanised processes to step up production and upgrading the packaging. We started getting huge crowds during summers in our parlour for sharbat mixed with water or milk, faloodas, ice creams with sharbat on them and so on. We made the sharbat available in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala. We also started exports. Some of my favourite customers are those who buy the sharbats to take back with them, to the US and UK, as gifts. Flavours like rose, raat rani, saffron, khus, kala khatta, orange, and falsa are among our many specialties.
We also became known for making artisan hand made ice creams using only fruits, dry fruits, chocolates, milk and sugar. No preservatives or stabilizers were added. My mother and sisters were also involved with our business.
My wife Shaheen and I decided to set up a manufacturing unit in Gandhinagar, the green capital city of Gujarat. The US FDA Certified manufacturing unit of Taj Food Products is equipped with Siemens Scada Systems as the food and beverage industry demands excellent quality control in order to provide safe products and preserve the brand reputation. By reducing the potential for human error and allowing early identification of potential issues, when beverage processing and packaging systems are automated, operators gain greater control over quality.
We rely heavily on our brand value as it is the key connection to our customers. Consistency is crucial for the food and beverage industry since customers want to buy the same product over and over again and for it to consistently have the same texture, flavor, taste, and other characteristics.
We take personal interest in every stage of manufacturing and vigilant about not permitting any substandard material to be used. Even administrative, financial and economic considerations are never allowed to come in the way of maintaining the highest quality standards.
We also manufacture products for makers of ice cream, gelato and sorbet, coffee shops, cold drinks parlours, etc where we help develop products replacing experience imported syrups.
As our three sons, Norren, Mohammed and Ibrahim, are joining Taj Food Products Shaheen and I have made a plan of starting eateries and parlours as well as diversifying into other products.
We recently opened Drinks & Desserts outlet by Taj Sharbat in Omaxe Chandni Chowk Mall, a premium commercial project spread over 4.6 acres with exteriors and interiors drawn from the rich heritage of Delhi. We are opening a restaurant at Maple Food County in the GIFT City.
More such outlets and projects are on the charts.
About the author
Hidaytullah Ahmedmiyan Rasoolmiyan is the owner of Taj Food Products.
