Part 1: Exploring a few Iyengar's Bakeries
There are Iyengar’s bakeries on every corner in Bangaluru. Are they owned by the same company? No. Do they sell the same items? Yes, pretty much. Then, how do they stand out from their competition? Well, I can’t answer that with a simple yes or no.
What are Iyengar’s bakeries? They are essentially Bangaluru’s traditional vegetarian bakeries that sell flavored buns, benne (butter) biscuits, om (carom seed) biscuits, rusks, puff pastry with aloo palya (potato curry), cakes, sweets such as dilpasand, and more! In the late 1890s, Iyengars (Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins) from the Hassan district in Karnataka moved to Bangaluru to start their bakeries. Initially, these bakeries sold sweets, but with the influence of English baking techniques, Iyengar’s bakeries specialized in bread and biscuits. For example, the textures of shortbread and the benne biscuit are quite similar.
V.B. Bakery
The eldest Iyengar bakery in Bangaluru is the V.B. (Visvesvarapuram Brahmin) Bakery. My order from V.B. Bakery is the khara (spicy) bun with flavored peanuts, apple pie, aloo palya puff pastry, and om biscuit. This bakery is located in the perfect spot for morning joggers from a community park to stop by and it is a walking distance from National College.
I tried to make the V.B. Bakery’s khara bun and the spicy peanut filling. Although my version of the bun was quite different than the real deal, the taste was reminiscent of my visits to Bangaluru!
My Rendition of V.B. Bakery's Khara Bun
Moreover, the success of V.B. Bakery paved way for hundreds of entrepreneurial chefs to start their bakery around Karnataka and beyond. To go back to the question I proposed about competition, I interviewed the owner of Sri. L.V.B. Bakers, M. J. Venkatesha, and his son who is soon to take over the bakery, Shesha Shayan, to find some answers. According to them, there are 2 main ways that Iyengar's bakeries differentiate themselves: 1) consumer demographic in the bakery’s location and 2) price and proportions of ingredients.
Sri. L.V.B. Bakers
L.V.B. Bakers is located in an area that consists of low-income workers and an Islamic community. Therefore, this bakery uses a higher quantity of vanaspati, a hydrogenated vegetable oil, as a substitute for expensive ghee or butter. They receive their flours fresh from a mill nearby. L.V.B.’s affordable prices reflect on the ingredients. However, while the ingredients are cheaper than some other bakeries’, they are not low-quality. Shayan emphasizes how L.V.B. Bakers uses ingredients and processes that are approved by the FSSAI (Food and Safety and Standards Authority of India).
Stay tuned for Part 2 where I will be exploring L.V.B.’s production process, marketing, and more!
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