KANNUR: Kerala Dinesh, the name synonymous with beedi industry in the state, is making a daring entry into restaurant business with the inauguration of ‘Cafe DINESH’ at Thalassery on Monday.
With the number of beedi smokers dwindling considerably the Kerala Dinesh Beedi Central Cooperative Society headquartered here, one of the biggest industrial cooperative societies in the country, has been on a path of diversification during the last two decades. Of late, the society has rolled out a variety of products through new enterprises, including Dinesh Foods, Dinesh Apparels, Dinesh Software and Dinesh Umbrella. Targeting further market intervention now, the primary cooperative societies of Dinesh are launching novel ventures, the first being the restaurant chain ‘Cafe DINESH’.
The 60-seat restaurant on 40 cents of land located near town bank auditorium in Thalassery will be opened by Kerala Dinesh chairman C Rajan at 10 am on May 4. The restaurant was built by renovating the former beedi company and so the initial expense was only `20 lakh, V Sathi, president of Thalassery Primary Cooperative Society, said. “We are all set to offer finest dining experience here. Special care has been taken to ensure ample parking facility and a bio-gas plant has been set up to avoid waste management issue. The seating capacity of the restaurant would be doubled within a short time,” she said.
Cafe DINESH’s second restaurant will be opened soon at Kathirur, a small town on the Thalassery-Coorg interstate highway. Many units of Dinesh in Kannur, Kozhikode and Kasargod districts have also similar plans.
“The primary cooperative societies of Dinesh were asked to find out new enterprises suitable to their locality. Two units have now come out with the idea of launching restaurants. Café DINESH will be the brand name if our other units also wish to proceed with the idea of opening restaurants,” Rajan said.
Expansion Plans
Dinesh Foods which received orders in April for export of coconut milk is on a major expansion plan. “The first batch of coconut milk consignment to the tune of `30 lakh was sent to Australia last week. As we have started receiving huge orders from domestic and international markets, we have decided to enhance the annual capacity of coconut milk producing unit from 1.5 lakh litre to 3 lakh litre and it will be achieved in three months,” said Kerala Dinesh chairman C Rajan. Dinesh has plans of launching an organic farming village in 10 acres of land in Neeleswarm in Kasargod. Dinesh software, a pioneer in the field in north Kerala, which has completed networking of all cooperative banks in the region, will launch core banking and ATMs for them in three months.