We Indians love to have pickles with our lunch or dinner and sometimes even with our breakfast. Pickle is one of the essential food items in Indian households. Many Indians who live abroad do not forget to carry their own jar of pickles when they travel back from their homeland to the countries they reside in.
Many households like to prepare their own pickles at home. For the rest, there are a number of brands of pickles available in the market. One such brand that we all have tasted is that of Nilon which serves a wide range from mango, to nimbu, carrot, chillies, mixed and many more. But do you know how the brand started and how it subsequently became a household name.
How the journey began
Today's multi-crore entity that has a presence across India, Nilon's journey started with humble beginnings.
Brothers Suresh Sanghavi and Prafful started the business from a home kitchen in 1962, in Utran village, Jalgaon, Maharashtra.
Suresh completed his graduation in agriculture in 1962, but the elder brother could not pursue due to untimely death of their father.
Prafful took up agriculture as it was their only source of income and suggested his brother to implement his knowledge into it.
The family understood the potential of food processing due to their earlier experience in the field during World War II.
The brothers then made their dinner table as laboratory and began mixing, matching and experimenting with different ingredients.
Suresh sourced fresh produce from family-owned orchards to make squashes from pineapple, mulberry, mango and other fruits.
Eventually, they began producing jellies, jams, ketchup and other products and sold them under the brand name Nilon's.
However, the business failed to pick up. They then came up with almost 50 products over the next four years, hoping something would work.
And then in 1966, when the Sanghavi brothers introduced homemade pickles to their collection, things began looking up.
They bagged government tenders to sell their products in military canteens for which they constructed a plant of 7,000 square feet area.
By 1969-70, Nilon's pickle contributed 95% of the total sales, and since then, the company has never looked back.
