LAL TOOFAN RED STORM PREMIUM BEER PINT GLASS

Product Information

Despite the fact that Indian restaurants were growing in popularity during the time, the drinks sold in the restaurant market remained dominated by the likes of Dortmunder and Carlsberg. A full-scale marketing project for introducing Kingfisher beer to the niche Indian restaurants was needed. Soon enough, Cobra followed the inevitable steps of being brewed in the EU under license and, by introducing a draught version, the market for Indian beers in the 90s became bigger and fiercely competitive. This is where Surojit Walawalkar’s marketing ingenuity came into play.

Curiously though”, he added, “a majority of the so-called ‘Indian restaurants’ that were in the popular hub of the British public dining-out experience were actually Bangladeshi.” Wally, who is half- Maharashtrian and half- Bengali, explained that he identifies strongly with his Bengali heritage, stemming from his mum’s side of the family. Though born in Jaipur, he completed his schooling and college in Calcutta, and was principally brought up by his Bengali maternal grandparents.Thus began the last chapter of his marketing career – the launch of both “Lal Toofan,” aimed at the traditional Indian restaurant sector of the market, and his crowning glory “Bangla,” aimed at the larger Bangladeshi sector with more than 6,000 restaurants. He thus aimed to bifurcate the ‘niche Indian restaurant market’. Thus a new company called United Breweries International UK was launched at a gala event in the Dorchester in 1982 and Wally was appointed to head up the operation as Vice President. So began his mission to introduce “Indian beer to the ethnic niche market”. Surojit “Wally” Walawalkar has lots of interesting parts to his life story that one can focus on, be it his time working alongside business executives, entrepreneurs and owners of companies large and small, or serving as a board member in a charity or a local authority sector. He readily admits that after 56 years of being happily married, he owes a huge debt of gratitude to his clear-thinking, supportive and quietly-inspiring wife Ann, who is a retired senior civil servant hailing from Scotland. He talks proudly about his two sons, daughter and three grandchildren who have all made notable successes in their own ways. But the part of his life that not many people focus on is the successful story of the introspective, yet ambitious and articulate, immigration who has made a life for himself in the UK by doing what he’s good at and what he enjoys. Not neglecting the other stream of Indian restaurants that were not Bangladeshi, he also launched a brand called “Lal Toofan”. This was carefully researched and the brand name was chosen to have a more blatantly Indian sounding name, thus declaring clear water from the more anglicised names such as the established brands Kingfisher or Cobra.

It is work in a very different setting compared to the world of business,” he added, but I don’t think he’d want it any other way, if the pride and joy that shines through in his voice is anything to go by. Sure enough, the prestigious Hindustan Lever Ltd hired Wally as Product Manager in the New Foods Division of their Mumbai Head Office in 1968. As anyone associated with its parent company, Unilever, will know – this is a truly ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to work with a world-class company at the forefront of brand marketing. I found it to be an impossible task,” he said. “When people, restaurant owners and customers alike, heard the drinks were imported from India, there was instant hesitation. The perception of poor hygiene standards, especially the quality of water in a developing country like India was brought into question.” Wally left United Breweries Group in 1992 to become Managing Director of their Shaw Wallace Overseas Ltd. Using the tried and tested formula of joint venture brewing, he started a new joint venture between Shaw Wallace Overseas Ltd and Ushers of Trowbridge called Ushers Shaw Wallace (USW Ltd). It was under this company that he in 1993 launched Lal Toofan and Bangla three years later.

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I’m currently the Chairman of CAPE, an association of carers and parents of persons with learning disability in Enfield, and I am also on the Learning Disability Partnership board for Enfield Local Authority. When this point is made, he is flattered and honoured. It seems that being recognised for the journey he’s been on isn’t high on Walawalkar’s list of priorities. “Being forgotten is only a part of life,” he said. As the dust settles on forgotten chapters of his life he cannot help but think of a quote from of revered writer and philosopher Khalil Gibran.