Small businesses
Rethink
Small businesses can dent the universe
Small businesses start as a simple pursuit of livelihood. They don’t want to disrupt things. They don’t change the world. The universe is without the dent. Yet, small businesses like Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR) change the world, disrupt things and make a dent in the universe.
1924 three brothers started a restaurant in Bengaluru. After running Brahmin Coffee Club for three decades, they started MTR at Lalbagh, Bengaluru. It started in 1960. It didn’t just serve great food, it introduced new style of restaurant to people of Bengaluru. In the process it changed the restaurant landscape of the city. One of the founders, Yagnanarayana Maiya had traveled to England to learn how restaurants worked there. After returning, he focused on hygiene and presentation. He introduced steam sterilisation of utensils and crockery. Restaurant started serving coffee in porcelain cups instead of steel tumblers. The restaurant also educated customers about the table manners: not combining hair, not leaving leftovers on the table etc.
Anoothi Vishal wrote, “very day, approximately 20 kg of bisibele bath is cooked and sold; 600 to700 idlis are made fresh every morning and by 9 am they are all over, as is the sambar made in huge steel vats, steaming and aromatic with freshly ground spices. MTR is an institution for a reason.”
During world war it invented ‘rava idlis’. It used wheat semolina to make idlis. It has become a delicacy in all South Indian restaurants. In 1970s it developed a brand for ready to cook foods. MTR Foods was sold to a Norwegian company for about INR 500cr.
Today MTR runs more than 13 restaurants in Bengaluru, Udupi, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Dubai. The family has launched another ready to cook brand, Maiyas. What started as a single location restaurant, has become an institution. Small businesses nurture the towns and cities they cater to.
Worth your time:
