Ravindra Kumar sits on a simple bench besides his open stall on which variety of milk products are placed…customers throng this make-shift shop during evening and enjoy the taste of cold beverages, full of health and nutritions. Mango shake, banana shake, milk badam, rabri, lassi–you name and he has it.
He starts he operation of his business at 5 in the evening and closes it at 11. By the time he gets up, he ends up with a turn-over of 12,000-15000 INR per day. The average price of product is 20 INR with an exception of milk badam, which is priced at 15 INR. So, in one day, Ravindra is able to serve around 600-700 customers.
Sitting in a small market in Sec-12, Noida, Ravindra does not need a concrete shop or even a wooden khokha. He mentioned that he owned a big shop where he did good business, but had to sell it before going through the same experience with another shop. He also mentioned that he started a business of food also but had to give it away.
He has been living in Noida since 1982 and had been into business for the last 18 odd years.
He has 5-6 people, who had been working with him since long and feel like family members, who get up at around 6:30-7:00 in the morning. They start preparing the items at home itself and by noon they are ready to bring it to the stall. The raw material including milk, fruits (banana, mango), sugar, plastic cups, and dry-fruits are delivered by vendors who trust him. He just calls them on phone and the material is delivered at his place.
During winters, the items change towards hotness–instead of lassi, you will get hot milk. Instead of mango shake or milk badam, halwa and hot sweets like gulab jamun would be served. He pointed out that during winters, the sales drop down a bit, which is more because of the weather conditions during winters. Talking about bad weather conditions like rains, he mentioned that whenever it happens, they arrange some canvas that could be used for overhead protection; otherwise, he does not face too much of challenges on that front though he sits in open air.
The area where Ravindra operates receives many working class customers who come back from office and ready to taste some beverages for quick replenishment of their bellies. However, he keeps the quality intact and does not want to lose his customers while making more profits.
Ravindra likes to keep life simple–work and make sure he and his employees get to eat something. Rest, he does not care much about life!
