Indian sweeper who built a world famous food brand on his own.

danish.siddiqui (43)in #inspiration • 4 years ago

This story is about an Indian who turned to Kenya to earn money and live with her family. But unfortunately in Kenya, he also had to face unfavorable conditions, due to which he was forced to leave Kenya as well. I moved to London with a life insurance policy, wife and six children, and just Rs 5 in pocket. In an unknown city where he had none of his own.

After reaching London, the biggest difficulty in front of them was to provide bread for June 2 for the family. Finally he started sweeping the streets of London. The whole family used to sleep on the footpath and could get a one-time meal from the few rupees. For many years, the same time passed.

One day while planting a broom, an idea came to his mind. He did not know at that time that his idea would emerge as a famous brand in more than 40 countries in the coming time. He just started working on his idea for the good life of his family of eight people.

The man named Lakshmishankar Pathak started making sweets, samosas, pickles,, and chutneys with the help of his wife Shanta Gauri. They started selling these Indian dishes for a very nominal amount. His profile was so small that it was difficult to hire a delivery boy. Finally he started sending his six-year-old son Kirit to do door-to-door delivery of people. His boy did not know English at all, so he would have to carry two pieces of paper with food. One keeps the home address of the customers and the delivery address on the other.

Bus drivers and pedestrians would have helped Kirit a lot by telling him the address, and also with the help of free bus passes for young children, Laxmishankar would have spent less. For all these products, there was a small room in the kitchen, where there was hardly any movement of goods. But his efforts started showing impact and the business gradually grew. In a few days, he started getting wedding-party orders, which gave a new height to his business.

Gradually, upon receiving more orders, he felt the need for a big room and then rented a room. These shops were able to attract many Indians and some Londoners in a short span of time. The reason behind this success was to work together day and night.

The authenticity and quality of the products made them so famous that almost every restaurant started pasting their brand banners. In order to make his brand a famous British brand, he removed the 'H' from the brand and became popular as 'Patak'.

Today the company is available in all major UK supermarkets, making sauces, mixed spices and a variety of food items. Not only this, it is exporting its products to more than 40 countries, providing employment to more than 700 people worldwide.