Just one year before the Nariman family celebrates the centenary of the Parsi Dairy Farm Bombayites woke up to a front page news story in The Times of India (TOI) of August 24, 2015 that the iconic establishment "may shut shop.” This was strongly refuted by the owners and a call to the Princess Street store elicited a crisp and firm "No, no, no, it’s not true,” as reported in Mid Day (MD) the next day.
Delicacies from Parsi Dairy Farm
Started by entrepreneur Ardeshir Nariman in 1916, the concern is now owned by eight members of his family — Taz Nariman, Jeroo Nariman, Silloo Nariman, Shernaz Irani, Meher Patel, Rukshana Anklesaria, Urvaksh Hoyvoy and Binaifer Kaushal. The business has been beset by problems with dissensions in the family as well as a strike by workers which caused its dairy to shut down for a while in 2006. It reopened thereafter with the younger members of the family coming out with a plan to trim the labor intensive milk delivery system, notes MD.
The Narimans own 300 acres of agricultural land in Talasari which was bought for livestock to support its dairy business. If sold, the land would fetch around Rs 200 crore, reported TOI. Their real estate consultant Pranay Vakil of Praron Consultancy told TOI: "The property touches the national highway. It can be used either for an integrated township, a special economic zone, a residential colony or an amusement park.”
But for now, Silloo Nariman told MD, "It (dairy and brand) is not going to close down. Nothing of the sort is going to happen. Not to worry.”
News of the concern’s impending closure had caused considerable consternation among customers not only of its milk but of sweetened curd, kulfi, paneer and a variety of sweetmeats. "The taste is distinctive,” caterer Kaizad Patel, who has often served its kulfis and mava ni boi at functions, told Bombay Times (BT) of August 25. Adman Prahlad Kakkar remembers with nostalgia, "From the trademark smell of milk to the taste, nothing has changed. I make it a point to go there when I feel like having a kulfi. So, if the buzz is true and they ultimately sell the dairy, it will be sad.” For the present, he need not worry on that account.