How Delhi’s decades-old bakeries have adapted to life after pandemic

Many local bakeries, like Kumar’s, are kernels of community and relationships in an urban space like Delhi. Not the sprawling enterprise of chains like Nik and Theos, but still equipped with enough scale and legacy to retain customers across decades, they lend colour, sound and — of course — aroma to their respective residential areas. For years, many have allowed customers to show up at the door with flour, ghee, sugar and any other ingredients, and get customised cakes and biscuits baked in the store’s oven. That custom, though, like many others, took a dent during the pandemic. Some such local bakeries in Delhi even shuttered doors permanently. The Indian Express speaks to some that remain to know their story — pre- and post-COVID-19.

Jugal Verma, owner of Parkash Bakery in Malviya Nagar, is the third generation behind the counter. His establishment was started by his ancestors in 1950 and took a hit during the pandemic lockdowns, but still survives, continuing to offer customers the facility of its ovens and mixers. “We charge Rs 350 per kilo of flour. You can bring your own ingredients or buy from us, wait for a few hours in which we’ll finish baking and cooling, and then take it home,” he explains shortly.

Neeraj Batra’s bakery in Malviya Nagar — Batra Bakery — is more than 50 years old and was started by his father in the 1960s. He admits that business has decreased since the pandemic, but his customers still come from all over Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. He tells of an ardent customer who recently asked a relative staying in Defence Colony to pick up a plum cake from his bakery before coming over — all the way in Surat, Gujarat.

Neeraj Batra admits that business has decreased since the pandemic, but his customers still come from all over Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida. (Photo:Neeraj Batra)

Grace Bakery, whose owner from Kerala started it two decades ago in Aya Nagar, charges Rs 300 per kilo, and says that his business was down during the pandemic but has revived lately. Footfall, however, is not the only change observed in such bakeries. Kumar notes that customers would earlier ask for a small quantity of a certain biscuit — 100 grams — and take it home. But since COVID-19, they don’t want anything without packaging, which forces businesses to say no to any orders under 400 grams. “People also want variety now,” he adds. “Earlier there would just be 5-6 types of biscuits we’d make, and people would take home huge canisters. Now we don’t do custom orders. We make many different biscuits and sell them readymade.”

Kajal is a customer witnessing Kumar’s narration. She’s a regular, a local, hence, the classic patron of such a business that mingles commerce and community. “I’ve been coming here for 10 years, and my family loves everything made here,” she says. “If we need any baked goods, we come nowhere but here.”