HYDERABAD: Who doesn’t know or love Dadu’s mithai, especially their motichur laddu? Hyderabad’s go-to store for traditional sweets and snacks has opened its latest store at Banjara Hills as the brand is all set to impress customers with a twist of new varieties and customisable options on their menu.
As the brand extends its wings to become the pakka local Hyderabadi mithai corner, we speak to Muskaan Dadu, daughter of owner Rajesh Dadu about their business, expansion plans and more. “My father Rajesh Dadu established the brand in 1993 with a small 800 sq ft space at Himayathnagar. We still have customers who bought from us since then. 30 years later today, we have 7 outlets and 700 employees working with us and we have diversified into mithais and gellatos, restaurants and bakeries,” Muskaan tells CE.
She says that consistency of taste and quality is the secret of the brand. “Everything that goes to the kitchen is personally tested for quality. Even back in the day, we were known for our unique additions. What was a north-centric sweet like motichur, is now popular among south India too. We started with 100 to 150 sweets back then and now we have over 500 and when asked to customise, we never refuse,” she shares.
Speaking about their expansion plans, Muskaan says there are many on paper and one is already at work in Dilshuknagar: “We have another coming up at the airport and a centralised factory is under construction. We hope to open five stores every year and focus also on shipping to the US and elsewhere.” The pandemic was sure a tough time for many and sweet stores were no exception. But Muskaan believes in being positive and says,
“The pandemic wasn’t all that bad. We were closed the 20 days during the lockdown and worked to change our product line for better attention. We produced a lot more bread and milk-made products. The delivery became rapid and it was a new learning curve.”
Muskaan believe that the main challenge lies in educating customers about their ingredients. “We do a lot of fusion mithai and that has been our USP for a good while now. The range that we have now has international flavours like Italian cherry, center-filled mithai with caramel and butterscotch that’s not found anywhere else in the city,” she says adding that this very USP will hopefully see their businesses across India soon.