An increase in footfall across sweet shops this festive season has spurred many owners across Kolkata to rev up production and try new items, a practice that had taken a beating during the pandemic.
Many sweet shop owners said the footfall had gone up by nearly two-and-a-half times since Vijaya Dashami, compared with the average turnout during the pandemic, infusing the much-needed oxygen into the trade.
Buoyed by the response, almost all medium and big traders have decided to try new items, particularly for the occasion of Bhai Phonta (Bhai Dooj) on Saturday and the festivals ahead.
While a few have decided to revive some of the now-forgotten mishtis of Bengal, others are banking on nolen gur to do the trick.
Nolen gur is a jaggery made from the sap of the date palm tree, a typical winter product in Bengal.
“We have started using nolen gur for two of our products, kachagolla and shankh sandesh. This is more about celebrating the festive spirit when customers come looking for traditional sweets,” said Partha Nandi, of the Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy sweet shop in north Kolkata.
Customers at sweet shops in north Kolkata on Friday afternoon. Pradip Sanyal
A few other shops, including Mithai of Beckbagan in south Kolkata, too, have started using nolen gur.
“The best quality of nolen gur is yet to come. We are trying it in just one of our items to cater to those who have been inquiring about traditional mishti,” said Nilanjan Ghosh of Mithai.
Trade observers said the fact that multiple sweetmeat shops were open to experimenting with ingredients, which is usually reserved for winter, around this time meant that the industry was looking up.
The unorganised “mishti” industry has an estimated turnover of Rs 1,000 crore and directly employs about 10 lakh people, “A few days back, the entire stock of 500 pieces of tinned rasogolla was sold out from our Esplanade shop in a day. This is something we did not notice even in 2019,” said Dhiman Das of KC Das and Sons Private Limited.
“Customers are now visiting shops with a renewed gusto and nothing can be more uplifting for us.”
With queues getting longer ahead of certain occasions, including Bhai Phonta, many sweet shops have started creating thaalis containing various types of mishti.
“The idea is to ensure customers don’t have to wait too long in queues,” said Sudip Mullick of Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick.
The spurt in demand for sweets has prompted many shops to increase production and bring in old hands, who were asked to stay back last year.
“Last year, the Dashami sales were down by almost 60 per cent compared with previous Dashamis. This Diwali some of the shops have scripted a turnover, which is possibly better than that of 2019,” Das said.