Balaji Wafers Success Story: You must have heard the name of ‘Balaji Wafers’. Recently, big news related to this company came out. General Atlantic is preparing to buy 7% stake in Balaji Wafers for Rs 2500 crore. But do you know that it was started by a 25 year old boy. Yes, this boy used to go from shop to shop on his bicycle carrying his home-made chips. His bicycle was old and due to its simple look, many shopkeepers did not even bother to look at it, and outright refused to keep his chips in their shops.
At that time, perhaps no one would have imagined that this boy would later become the Wafer King of India, and millions of shopkeepers across the country would be forced to stock his products. Chandubhai Virani was born in 1957 in Dhundhoraji, a small village in Gujarat. There was no electricity in the village, everyone depended on farming.
Running a household with a job of Rs 90 per month
In the year 1972, there was a severe drought in the country and crops were ruined. The father was forced to sell his ancestral land for Rs 20,000 and distributed the money among his three sons. Only 6 thousand rupees to 17 year old Chandubhai. He came to Rajkot with two brothers. Initially started a small business of fertilizer, but the supplier gave him fake goods. All his capital was lost. He had come on the road, but returning to the village was not acceptable. Then one day I got a job at Astron Cinema for Rs 90 a month. He started pasting posters, checking tickets, cleaning and even stitching seats. The owner of the cinema became so happy that he gave the contract for the canteen.
Chandubhai had to pay only Rs 1000 as rent per month, the rest of the profit was his own. He used to sell sandwiches, cold drinks and potato chips in the canteen. One thing he noticed during this time was that 80 percent of the earning was coming from chips only, that too in 10-15 minutes of the interval, people were buying it the most. But the supplier of chips either brings it late or brings less. This problem continued for six years. Finally, in 1982, Chandubhai decided that he would make chips himself.
How did Balaji Wafers get its name?
He took inspiration from Hanuman temple and named the brand ‘Balaji Wafers’. He invested Rs 10,000 in this business and built a small shed in the courtyard of his house. He could not buy an expensive machine, so he assembled the parts himself and made the machine for Rs 5,000. Used to work in the canteen during the day and make chips at home at night. Not only this, his entire family was involved in it. The biggest trick he adopted was to give more chips to the customer for less money. That’s why Balaji packets contained 25-30 percent more chips than others. The taste was also perfect according to Gujarati tongue. Earlier he used to sell these packets only in his canteen, then he started selling these chips in school canteens and 25-30 shops in Rajkot. If he had gone on a bicycle, the shopkeepers would have thought him poor and sent him away, but Chandubhai did not give up.
Gradually the quality of their chips also started improving. After this, he took a loan of Rs 50 lakh and set up his first semi-automatic factory, but the company with which the plant was built was closed midway. He invested Rs 50 lakh in this and that plant remained incomplete. Chandubhai and his brothers opened every machine, understood it, repaired it themselves and started running it. After this, he set up a second plant in 1995 and started working in a fully automated factory in 2002. They had 90 percent market in Gujarat till 2006.
Gave competition to Lays and Kurkure
After this, he gradually added new flavors like Chaat Chaska, Banana Chips, Khakhra, Ratlami Sev, Punjabi Tadka. Also started Balaji Namkeen. Launched products with names like Nachos, Wheelos etc. for the youth. Today everything in his plant is automatic. In 2023, Pepsi had offered to buy it for Rs 4000 crore, but the company refused. Today Balaji gives tough competition to Lays and Kurkure. The biggest reason for this is that their products contained more air instead of chips and Balaji Wafers made this a part of their marketing. Targeting this weakness, Balaji Wafers created its message “Less Air, More Wafers, and Amazing Flavors”. Its products are in lakhs of shops, exported to 25 countries, annual turnover is more than Rs 5000 crore. And this whole empire was built by that boy who used to sell chips on a bicycle and the shopkeepers used to chase him away. Chandubhai Virani proved that if one has courage and hard work, an empire can be built even on a bicycle. This is the real Made in India success story.
