From Drought to Delicious: The Incredible Story of Balaji Wafers
Imagine a small Gujarat village in the early seventies. It had approximately 1,500 inhabitants who walked around since there was neither electricity nor bicycles. Existence was based solely on natural circumstances. This village was Dhundhoraji, and the Virani family was its inhabitants. The Viranis were like the majority of their neighbors; they were small farmers and they relied on the rains to keep their farms going.
Then suddenly, calamity befell them. The rain did not come, and their fields dried up. Hope came and went as a second planting, but it also failed. Famine stared them in the face.
Can you believe that a 15-year-old boy from this village, living in such hard times, would one day build a multi-billion-rupee snack company? It sounds impossible, but this is a true story. It is the journey of Balaji Wafers, a company that entered Fortune India's list of FMCG billionaires 50 years after facing famine. Started by three brothers – Bhikhu, Kannu, and Chandu Virani – Balaji Wafers now competes with huge companies like PepsiCo. This is a story of turning problems into chances, saying no to a massive offer from PepsiCo, and building one of India's most loved snack brands.
A Family's Fight Against Famine
Chandu Virani is a young teenager who lives in Dhundhoraji in the 1970s. The drought severely hit his family. His father, Popatbhai Virani, had a hard choice to make; he sold their arid land. He gave the sons 500 rupees and instructed them to go out and earn their own. Nothing remained in the village for them. Chandu Virani had a great responsibility. He knew he could not let his father's trust go to waste.
The youngest brother, Kannu, stayed in the village with their parents and two sisters. The other three brothers, Bhikhu, Chandu, and Meghji, left for Rajkot city. They carried little money but big dreams.
Dreams Drowned and a New Path
The Virani brothers came from a farming background. So, they first tried to start a business related to farm equipment and fertilisers. But they were tricked. A trader sold them fake goods. They did not know much about business yet. In just two years, their business failed. Their dream of opening a dairy store vanished as all their money was lost.
They could not go back to their father with nothing, so they decided to stay in Rajkot and make a living there. But what kind of work could they find? Chandu Virani had only studied up to the 10th grade, so finding a good job seemed impossible.
Before we dive into the lessons that helped Chandubhai Virani build a multi-crore empire, remember that every great business journey starts with a solid financial foundation. If you're inspired to build your own success story, the first step is to
Finding Work and Life's First Lesson
After much searching, Chandu Virani found a small job at the Astron Cinema in Rajkot. He became a canteen boy, serving food to people in the cinema hall's canteen.
This time brought the first important lesson of his life: Work is Worship. He never thought any job was too small. He believed in doing every task with honesty. Besides serving food, he would stick movie posters, check tickets at the door, and help people find their seats. He never asked for extra money for these tasks. After the shows, he would even fix torn seats in the cinema hall. For this, he would get a plate of chora fali with chutney.
At this time, Chandu and his brothers lived in a rented room. His monthly pay was 90 rupees, while his brother earned 150 rupees. It was very hard to live on just 240 rupees a month. One night, they even had to sneak out of their rented home because they could not pay 50 rupees for rent. Later, they paid back the landlord and found a place to stay with people they knew.
Hard Work Pays Off: Taking Over the Canteen
There is a saying, "Let your work do the talking." Chandu and his brothers proved this true. Their hard work and dedication impressed their boss, Govind Khunt. He saw how much effort they put into their jobs. He decided to give them a chance.
In 1976, he offered them a contract to run the canteen themselves. They would pay 1,000 rupees a month. This was a big step for them. It was during the screening of Amitabh Bachchan's movie Kabhi Kabhie at Astron Cinema. While the songs played on screen, Chandu Virani had no time to daydream. There was only a five-minute break during the film. He had to deliver orders at lightning speed. If he missed someone, he would go into the dark cinema hall to find the customer and serve them.
A New Problem and a New Opportunity
One item was very popular with customers: wafers or potato chips. But there was a big problem. The company that supplied the chips could not keep up with the demand. Deliveries were often late, and the quality was not always good. They tried three different suppliers, but the issues remained: no regular supply, no consistent quality.
This led to their second life lesson: Don't worry, think. When a problem comes, do not just worry. Think about a solution. They say that when one door closes, another opens. In the problem with potato chips, Chandu saw an opportunity. Why not make their own potato wafers?
Taking the Leap: Starting Balaji Wafers
By 1982, the Virani family had moved from their village to Rajkot and bought their own house. The family was already supplying masala sandwiches to the cinema canteen, which were very popular; however, the sandwiches spoiled quickly. Wafers, however, lasted longer and could be easily moved from one place to another.
This was their third life lesson: Jump in. Chandu Virani believes that highly educated people sometimes struggle to start a business. They overthink too much, wonder about every "what if" scenario, and become too scared to act. But Chandu's advice is simple: "Just jump in." If you find a chance, do some basic checks, and the plan seems reasonable, then go for it.
Chandu Virani did just that. He set up a shed in his home's courtyard and put up a frying pan. He could not afford the 10,000-rupee machine to peel and cut potatoes. So, he had a similar machine custom-made for 5,000 rupees. The total investment was only 10,000 rupees. He had no experience making potato wafers. After working at the canteen, he spent nights experimenting. He hired a helper, but the helper often did not show up. So, Chandu Virani would stay up all night, frying wafers himself.
Perfecting the Recipe and Facing Challenges
At first, there was a lot of waste, but Chandu did not give up. He found the perfect taste for his potato wafers through many trials and errors. People loved them. By this time, they ran three canteens: two at Astron Cinema and one at Kotecha Girls' High School.
Beyond their canteens, they started selling their chips to shops. In 1984, they chose a brand name for their chip packets: Balaji Wafers. They got the idea from a small Hanuman temple in the cinema canteen.
But soon, another problem arose. Shopkeepers caused trouble. They often returned half-eaten packets, claiming they were stale. When Chandu went to collect money, shopkeepers sometimes gave torn notes or lied, saying they had already paid.
For Chandu, trouble meant thinking, finding a solution, and learning. He and his brother loaded bags of wafers onto their bicycles and travelled to far-off villages and towns. Later, they used motorcycles and rickshaws. Their main goal was to get the chips to customers. They knew the product would speak for itself once people tasted the quality.
Scaling Up and Learning to Fix Machines
In the next few years, Balaji Wafers became famous across the city. The Virani brothers earned 20,000 to 30,000 rupees a month. Demand grew so much that in 1989, they took a 50 lakh rupee loan. They built a plant in Rajkot's AGIDIC industrial area, which was the largest potato wafer plant in Gujarat at the time.
But problems continued. The new machinery in the plant did not work well. When they called company engineers, they always presented large bills for hotels and other expenses. Chandu Virani did not let this stop him. He studied the machines and started fixing them himself. The 10th-grade dropout had become a part-time engineer.
A few years later, the business became Balaji Wafers Private Limited. Bhikhu, Kannu, and Chandu Virani were the three directors. From that point on, they never looked back.
Saying No to Billions: The Power of Passion
Here is Chandu Virani's fourth life lesson: Have a deep passion for your work. He says people tried to stop the saint Meera Bai, but she stayed focused on her devotion. You need that kind of focus for your job. You must love what you do so much that you can put all your energy into it.
This is why they turned down an offer to sell their company. When the discussion happened, they received over 500 letters from customers. These customers had grown up eating Balaji Wafers. They feared that if a big company bought it, the prices would increase and the taste might change.
Chandu Virani said they might have considered a partnership, giving up a small 5-10% share. They believed that PepsiCo would be an effective partner to learn about business governance and growth. Nevertheless, they eventually acquired such lessons independently and employed powerful professionals. Initially, the maximum earning of the company was 25 lakh rupees, but subsequently, they engaged people whose annual earnings were 1.5 crore rupees. Neither did they choose to introduce an initial public offering. They believe in steady growth, like waves moving in water.
The Secret to Success: Customer and Supplier Satisfaction
Balaji Wafers has built a strong hold in Gujarat. Big brands like Uncle Chips and PepsiCo's Lay's chips cannot beat them there. An article from the Economic Times in 2009 reported that Lay's and Haldiram's even visited Balaji Wafers to learn from them. Lay was impressed by Balaji Wafers's efficient and straightforward way of working.
The key to their operations is satisfaction. They make sure everyone in their supply chain is happy. This means buying quality raw materials from suppliers and paying them on time. Chandu Virani told The Print that they have 2,000 suppliers, and 80% of them are farmers. He believes that business is not just for your own growth. It should also help everyone around you.
They have very close connections with their distributors, dealers, and retailers. Anyone can meet and talk to them directly. Chandu Virani proudly states that his local distributors grew wealthier alongside the company. Salesforce.com shows how Balaji Wafers created a dealer management system to help their distributors. This system made tedious tasks like record-keeping automatic. Billing became clearer. Before, data from field visits and audits was spread across spreadsheets, emails, and text messages. Now, all channel partner data is put together and streamlined. This helps them get helpful information to make decisions.
The company has 7,000 employees. They are all part of the team. Everyone works with their own drive. No one is given sales targets.
The Fifth Life Lesson: Service, Not Sales
This brings us to the fifth life lesson: Service, not sales. Chandu Virani explains that sales mean pushing a product onto a customer. They do not do that. It has a product so good that it is a self-demanded product among customers. This is the demand that the company serves. Sales is not a word in our vocabulary, he says—strong selling and service. Customers continue buying when you render good services since it is a good product. It is a pull strategy, in which customers drag the product out of you.
Their dealers do not have to sell products. They only need to deliver them. Chandu Virani says that people often chase money (Lakshmi). But if you keep focusing on your work (Narayana), money will come to you naturally. This means your business will grow if you keep your team happy and give customers a quality product at a fair price. Profits will follow.
Balaji Wafers Today: A Growing Empire
Today, Balaji Wafers' profits continue to rise. They have four factories in India: Rajkot and Valsad in Gujarat, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. In addition to chips, they sell over 50 other snacks. These include nachos, aloo sev, sev murmura, khatta meetha, mixed namkeen, moong dal, Punjabi tadka, salted peanuts, chanajor garam, and pop rings.
They are present in 14 Indian states and export their products to the UAE, Australia, and America. Across India, Balaji Wafers is the third-largest snack brand, after PepsiCo and Haldiram's. They are the market leader in Western India (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan).
Balaji Wafers remains a family business today. Chandu Virani's brothers were part of it, and now their sons are taking over.
The Power of Teamwork and Family
You might wonder if fights or blame games existed among the brothers or the family. Chandu Virani shares a powerful thought. In the Mahabharata, everyone said "mine, mine," and they all died. But in the Ramayana, Lord Rama told Bharata that the kingdom was his, and Bharata said it belonged to Rama. By saying "yours," they all succeeded.
He believes you should not point fingers even if someone makes a mistake. Remember that everyone is working as a team. No one's spirit should be broken. Imagine one brother as a "hero" and three as "zeros." But when you put three zeros after one, it becomes 1,000. This means using each person's strengths and working together.
Even today, the Virani family has lunch together every day at 1 PM around a large dining table.
Lessons for Every Dreamer
In an age of fast business growth and venture capital funding, the story of Balaji Wafers stands out. It teaches us that slow and steady wins the race. Chandu Virani says they personally bought, processed, fried, spiced, and packed their products. They sold them by bike, rickshaw, and auto. Then they brought people together. Millions joined them because they learned every part of their business by doing it themselves. Because of this, they understand everything today.
So, you too can make your work your worship and work honestly. Find business opportunities based on what interests you. Do your research, and if it looks good, jump in. Drive your business with passion. Keep everyone who works with you happy. Give customers great products at fair prices. Problems will come – they always do. But instead of worrying, think of solutions.
This incredible journey from a small, drought-stricken village to a multi-billion-rupee empire shows that any dream can come true with hard work, innovative thinking, and an unwavering spirit.