Let's go for grab

Providing lip-smacking savories to office goers looking for a quickbite and wholesome nourishing meals at a reasonable rate as carryout, Grub Corner is a popular fast-food joint in Bombay’s Fort area.

A new menu, a new look and the little place at Ash Lane, just off the magnificent Central Bank edifice, quickly became a favorite stopover. Their sandwiches — 22 different types of them — and crispy puffs have carved a huge corner in the plates of foodies. At many conferences, it is the Grub Corner’s sand­wiches being offered. Besides snacks, on any given day, they have on offer meal items too, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. But this turnaround was a gradual one.

Explains owner Kersi Gazder in his usual soft-spoken way, "Earlier there were a lot of complaints, so I changed the suppli­ers and introduced the practice of making food at the shop it­self. This ensured fresh stock and the noticeable upturn in quality was appreciated by customers. I renovated the shop so that my staff could manage the counter comfortably and some of the snacks are even made by them at their respective homes and brought to the shop.” Which means it’s not just the proprietor who passionately believes in high standards of quality and hy­giene, it’s a credo believed and followed even by the qualified staff who realize that the onus of their customers’ health is in their hands.

Gazder and his team:high standards of quality and hy­giene Photos: Cherag Mevawala

There’s more to it than just hard work and dedication to perfection. Gazdar admits that he gets tremendous help from his wife Mehr who rises hours before dawn, every single day, to help him with the cooking. She also does the weekly marketing, hand-picking the ingredients, as nothing but the best will do. And all this along with working as secretary to the executive director at the Union Bank of India. Their 18-year-old daughter Benafsha is in her second year of Junior College at the H. R. College and has won many medals in judo, mentions the father. Kersi typically starts his day at Grub Corner at the stroke of 8 a.m. After the initial cleaning up, he’s ready to spruce up the counter and prepare the day’s meals. The tiny little shop is then filled with tantalizing whiffs of puffs and pies, rolls and patties, pastries, desserts and biscuits, some of which are sourced all the way from Poona and Navsari. Needless to add, his loyal clientele even come for Poona’s famous Royal batasas and shrewsbury biscuits all the way from suburbs like Andheri and Thana, braving the scorching heat and maddening traffic. "Some of our customers who cannot make it to the shop in the morning, place orders over the phone and collect the food later on during the day, at a time that’s more convenient,” reports Kersi. After the office rush peters down at 6 p.m., it’s clean-up time again. A few last minute customers still trickle by, while they begin their round of stock-taking. Finally the day’s work is done and the shutters are lowered at 7 p.m.

But things haven’t always been so hunky-dory. For Kersi it was a struggle to acquire the premises due to financial problems. After opting for voluntary retirement from Union Bank of India, he worked for several private establishments. He started small by setting up a stall jointly with his sister-in-law outside the sprawling Swabal Stores, located at Colaba Causeway, in the good old days. He enjoyed the experience and aspired to have a bigger and more permanent outlet.

His dreams came true when Kersi Limathwalla mentioned to him that Grub Corner was for sale. Determined to acquire it, he sold his flat at Kalyan and to raise more funds, approached the Bombay Parsi Punchayet for help with a blueprint for his dream shop. He was greatly motivated by the trustees who recognized the en­trepreneur in him. Minoo Shroff, Dinshaw Mehta and Dinshaw Tambo­ly were extremely supportive and besides helping him secure the much-needed loan, also extended advice and encouragement, he appreciates. Their guidance enabled him to steer clear of many pitfalls and chart out the right course. Slowly and gradually, his hard work paid off and he began to repay the loan.

Mehr and Kersi (above and right): making the business a success

As mentions Mehta, "We gave him an interest-free loan from the Venture Capital Fund and the necessary confidence to buy the property, to buy out the partner... It is such hardwork­ing, middle class entrepreneurs whom we want to see come up in life. He has strived and toiled and the results are there for all to see.”

Before 1981, when Grub Corner was established, there was a famous restaurant, at the same spot, called Café Health with Fali Penga nu Dhansak as its most popular item. When the building Gundecha Chamber was reconstructed the previous owners remodeled Café Health to cater to the vast Parsi population of office-goers in the area and Grub Corner was born. It was later sold in 1999 to Kersi and thereby began a new tale.

More recently, this jolly proprietor suffered a setback when his health failed him. A heart attack, last year, forced him to abstain from work and it was the first time in over five years that Gaz­der wasn’t to be seen behind the counter at Grub Corner. Not one for complaining, Kersi laud­ed the role played by his staff. "They ably managed our little eatery for the five days I was away, during my angioplasty at Apollo Hospital.”

Expressing "tremendous faith in Behram Yazad,” Kersi says, "I try to go to the fire temple every day... I’m religious minded, but not a fanatic,” sums up the entrepreneur who prefers to keep his distance from religious controversies for want of sufficient knowledge.

He would prefer to focus his energies on his ever-growing customer-base clamoring for more. Gazder and his team have set their sights on expansion. "I am looking for a place which has an attached kitchen and a bakery, in an upmarket area in south Bombay,” he quips. Until he zeros in on such a spot, his loyal customers can frequent Ash Lane.