Giani-di-Hatti
It all began in 1956 at Giani-di-Hatti, nestled amidst the bazaars of Fatehpuri, Chandni Chowk, and still one of the landmarks of old Delhi. It was here that Giani Gurcharan Singh, a traditional sweetmeat maker from the then Layallpur (Faislabad), Pakistan, set up shop upon migrating to Delhi. He started serving his famous rabri-faluda and mango shakes, made with loving attention and dedication, with the best quality ingredients. This struck an instant chord with the discerning residents of the walled city and in no time at all, Giani (“the learned” in Punjabi), was a household name.
In 1962, Giani-di-Hatti bought its first machine – a second-hand one – but still a huge investment at Rs. 12,000. A few years later in 1970, the business was divided into two entities; Gurcharan Sons and Giani Ice Cream. In the same year, Giani Gurcharan Singh took over Giani Ice Cream and invited his eldest son Shri Gurbachan Singh, still an undergraduate, to join the business and augment the range of traditional desserts with ice cream flavours. The little enterprise’s success over the next two decades was a tribute to the business skills of Giani Gurcharan Singh who possessed a skill and art and made ice cream with his hands. It was an era when MP’s and celebrities such as Raj Kapoor and Mohammad Rafi would visit the shop to taste and soak in the atmosphere.
On the eve of the new millennium, the next generation at Giani Ice Cream decided to spread the family business further. In 1999, the first Giani Ice Cream store came up in Rajouri Garden, then a newly ‘happening’ market in West Delhi.
In 2007, Giani Gurcharan Singh’s three children decided to go their separate ways. At this time, Shri Gurbachan Singh, the eldest of the brothers, and his son Shri Taranjit Singh decided to continue in the family tradition and retained Giani Ice Cream business to further expand the chain of franchise ice cream stores across NCR under the original name. A new manufacturing facility was set up in Manesar, Haryana. Machinery was imported from the US and Italy to churn creamy ice cream out of 300 litres of milk a day. Given sufficient demand plans are to increase capacity in the coming years.
Today, with over fifty stores Giani Ice Cream has managed to cut across age groups and find universal appeal among the ice cream lovers. It felicitously combines the nostalgia of Chandni Chowk’s traditional rabri-faluda, chilled mango shakes with the contemporary demand for chocolate whisky ice cream, a variety of sundaes, mousses and shakes, as well as that for gelatos, frozen yogurts, ‘lite desserts’ and innovations like jamun sorbet for the health conscious.
Despite all the success, the philosophy behind the business remains simple, the same as that of the founder of the house: ‘A middle-class neighbourhood ice cream destination that is synonymous with quality and variety of flavours at affordable prices’
