“Swad Sugandh Ka Raja”: Badshah Masala

• 114
• 0

From humble beginnings in 1958, Jhaveri Industries has steadily built Badshah Masala into an internationally recognized power brand in the spice arena. Badshah Masala has become synonymous with cooking, offering aromatic spices of genuine quality. The company has won many prestigious awards, including the “Mera Brand Award”. Badshah is the first choice of households all across the Indian subcontinent. Today, a third of the sales are exported and Badshah Masala has carved a niche of its own in the international spice market.

 

Taking cues from India’s love for spices, Badshah Masala took birth in 1958, started by Shri Jawaharlal J. Jhaveri and Shri Ramanlal J. Jhaveri. The beginnings are simple and small with just Garam and Tea masala on the aisles.

After the founder duo passed away, the reins were taken over by their sons Hemant Jhaveri and Kailash Jhaveri. Hemant Jhaveri has been the Managing Director of Badshah Masala for 26 years, now since 1996. He fondly remembers how his father would acquire tin cans that cigarettes used to be sold in, clean them, and peel off the labels. He would then package the masalas in them, ride his bicycle and sell them. They quickly became very popular owing to their taste, quality, and prices.

 

During the lockdowns, cooking was one activity many people indulged in. While restaurants shuttered down, cloud kitchens boomed. This is when the team at Badshah Masala realised it was time to unlearn their traditional manner of doing business. The spice major’s MD, Hemant Jhaveri, recalled how they started aggressively concentrating on cloud kitchens and restaurants that were focused on the delivery model.Hemant says that while he didn’t face any challenge in growing and scaling up the business, however, the pandemic period was tough. In the future, he plans to diversify and expand his spice kingdom, and get Badshah Masala into RTE (Ready To Eat) and pickles segments. 

 

Badshah Masala will always be known as “Swad Sugand Ka Raja” thanks to the iconic jingle that aired more than 40 years ago and still resonates with the young and old alike.“But things began very humbly,” shares Hemant Jhaveri. “Shortly after the brand took birth in 1958, it tasted immediate success, and manufacturing units were set up due to growing demand. Advertising was required to bring the message to the masses and the first big campaign started with boards on the side of Mumbai local trains. Even this humble medium was huge, as at the time Badshah Masala and Nirma were the only two brands visible on it.”

The most memorable of course is the “Swad Sugandh Ka Raja” campaign.

The voice that sang the famous jingle belonged to Preeti Sagar. Watch it here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnXvlkjtE6A )The breakthrough jingle-based TV ad was launched and it propelled the brand sky high and made it a household name. The sway of that single piece of communication still carries momentum. The jingle was used everywhere for decades – TV, Radio, Theatre, and Railway Stations.

 

Over the years, the company launched innumerable blended spices like Bombay Bhaji Pav Masala, Punjabi Chole Masala, Paneer Butter Masala, and more to authentic grounded spices like Amchur Powder, Black Pepper Powder, and Ginger Powder.

The list also includes aromatic ranges of Asafoetida to premix tea masalas – all in all, it offered a wholesome package of spices and bet big on advertising is a vast range of portfolio exploring 360-degree media – print, radio, television, and slowly but steadily caught pace with digital.

 

After Hemant joined the business, his foremost step was to increase the company’s reach. He expanded the reach across the entire country, and today, Badshah Masala is exported to over 20 countries. The brand also occupies prominent shelf space in the supermarkets, local grocery stores, as well as international markets, with a distributor network of 450 distributors.