How

Mithai Shops

Became Family Businesses

K.C. Das

With little means to complete his education, in 1864, an 18-year-old Nobin Chandra Das started his own sweet shop at Jorasanko in Kolkata after leaving a dissatisfying job with distant relatives. After his first business failed, he opened another establishment in Bagbazar in 1866, determined to invent a sweet that would be solely his creation. What Das tried was boiling chenna balls in sugar syrup repeatedly, but they would just disintegrate. After months of experimentation, he perfected the technique that created the spongy, syrup-soaked rasgulla – Bengal's most beloved sweet.

His son was equally talented – Krishna Chandra Das, born in 1869, is credited with creating rasmalai and pioneering the concept of canned rasgulla. Around 1930, Krishna Chandra Das and his son Sarada Charan opened their first shop in Jorasanko, becoming the first duo to can any sweet in India. They used scientific principles for canning, which at the time was a revolutionary invention that extended shelf life and shot Bengal's rasgulla to fame and the world. Today, the company is led by director Dhiman Das, who became a director at age 21 in 1993 and implemented modernisation measures while maintaining quality.

Sri Krishna Sweets

N.K. Mahadeva Iyer founded Sri Krishna Sweets as a restaurant with a speciality sweet counter in Coimbatore in 1948, the first air-conditioned restaurant in the region. Through years of research into ingredients, technique, and consumer taste, Mahadeva Iyer gave the world the highly delicious mysurpa. Then, in 1972, he opened a separate sweet shop at R.S. Puram to retail sweets.

Then came in Mahadeva Murali, who began his career at Sri Krishna Sweets as a young entrepreneur by joining the family business and extending branches across Chennai, Pondicherry, Tiruvannamalai, and Kanchipuram. Today, this sweet shop’s network has spread over 45 outlets. The business built a state-of-the-art central kitchen and expanded across three southern states, Maharashtra, and the UAE, with a total of 66 outlets.

Ghantewala Halwai

One of the oldest mithai shops in India, Ghantewala Halwai, opened its gates in 1790 and was founded by Lala Sukh Lal Jain. Jain came to Delhi from Amer or Amber around the time that Sindhia helped to restore Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II to the kinghood. It is believed that the same emperor named the shop (the shop was close to a school where bells rang periodically), and some believe Jain himself was behind it – he sold his sweets by ringing a bell to draw attention.

For over two centuries, it boasted a clientele that included Mughal emperors and former Indian Prime Ministers like Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi. As for the mithai, one of the earliest sweets sold at the shop was a Rajasthani dessert called mishri mawa. Then they have the sohan halwa, Karachi halwa, kaju katli, doda barfi, and pista barfi. The shop closed down in 2015 due to falling sales and legal issues, but reopened in late 2024. 

Bhim Chandra Nag

Founded in 1826 by one of the most prolific and innovative sweetmakers of his time, Paran Chandra Nag, the shop was named after his son and quickly gained popularity. It is said that Rani Rashmoni, the founder of the famous Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, supposedly ordered 28 ‘maund sandesh’ through Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (a key religious reformer during the Bengal Renaissance, and the temple’s purohit), from Bhim Nag, for the inauguration.

The shop is also famed for a sweet called Ledikeni, prepared by Bhim Chandra Nag in honour of Lady Canning, who had come to India in 1856 to live with her husband. Another legend says that it was prepared on the occasion of her birthday. Ledikeni is named after Lady Charlotte Canning, wife of Lord Charles Canning, the last Governor-General and first Viceroy of India.

Today, you can spot a big grandfather clock placed on the wall, right at the centre of the parent shop in Bowbazar that ticks away solemnly. The 162-year-old custom-made clock was created in London and gifted to Bhim Chandra Nag by Cooke and Kelvey. Legend has it that in 1858, Thomas Cooke paid a visit to Bhim Nag's shop and was very happy to savour the sweets he was offered. The latest ode was to Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, a renowned mathematician and academic, after whom a variant of sandesh called Ashubhog was named.

A Taste of Legacy

These mithai shops might be flourishing businesses today, but they were as accessible and homely as your corner halwai dukan. Some even preserve the same taste today, making them capsules of memory and devotion. Passed down through generations, each recipe tells a story of love, resilience, and community.