May 01, 2003 10:57 AM
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(Updated May 01, 2003 10:58 AM)
My very first recollections of a production unit was when I used to visit my father in his company, Britannia Industries Ltd., at Reay Road, Mumbai. That was in the latter part of the seventies. Ever since, Britannia has held an important place in my memory. After working there for 23 years, my father joined a biscuit company in Africa and recently retired after 24 years of service there. So, his cumulative experience as an engineer in the biscuit industry is of 47 years. Ask him which he thinks is the most ingenious biscuit he has ever seen, and he says- Little Hearts.
I believe him!
ABOUT THE COMPANY
The Britannia Biscuits Company Limited was first incorporated in Calcutta, way back in 1918. The company expanded its network to Bombay, Delhi and Madras somewhere in the late fifties, and soon came to be recognized as the leading biscuit company of India. Today, this huge company is controlled by Groupe Danone and Nusli Wadia.
Other than biscuits, Britannia also made its mark in the dairy market, with products like bread, cheese, butter and ghee. The company made its mark in the general public with their first major TV commercial for Glucose, which showed the then famous character Gabbar Singh eating the biscuits with the byline- Gabbar ki asli pasand. However, Britannia truly excelled not in Glucose biscuits, but in cream biscuits. Till date, there is absolutely no competition for them in this arena.
LITTLE HEARTS
It was very recently that Britannia introduced Little Hearts to India. As the name suggests, these biscuits are heart shaped. (Okay Maddy...that was an intelligent piece of information!)
The first thing that strikes you is of course, the name! It is so different and unusual for a pack of biscuits. Little Hearts- it may bring out the child in you, or in some cases, the romantic in you.
You open the pack and the one thing you cannot miss seeing in these biscuits is the fantastic finishing. It is a superb example of high tech engineering. The upper part looks more tanned and more polished. But the biscuit is not over baked. If we say that the basic mould must be browner, then the rest of the biscuit defies that theory. The swirling lines on the biscuit are very attractive.
Next comes the taste. The taste is sweetish, with a tinge of saltiness. The blend is so subtle that you just cannot resist drooling over it. Fantastic stuff!
One packet of these sugar coated biscuits is priced at Rs.10, and contains approximately thirty pieces.
Truly, a biscuit with a difference. You will just go gaga over it!
IN CONCLUSION
Forget the conclusion....just go get a pack of Little Hearts. Spoil the child inside you!
