THE Grand Sweets & Snacks, Adyar

I have blogged about various changes I have observed within the past 3.5 years during my recently concluded visit to Chennai. However, the one thing that remained unchanged was The Grand Sweets and Snacks in Adyar. And, I am not just referring to the quality of their products or the crowd that fills up the parking lots. Everything, from the token and billing system to the “Donnai” scheme and the patronage among its clientele has been sustained. For those who watch Seinfeld, a visit to this premier sweets and savories store in Adyar, would be reminiscent of the “Soup Nazi” episode in terms of the flow along the chain. First you step in and take a quick look at the offerings if you don’t already know what you need. Most mamis come prepared with a detailed list to get ahead of the curve a.k.a the crowded line at the store. Perhaps the one thing you would find today that was absent in 1990 is a familiar sight of youngsters who find their place in the queue before they decide and like stock brokers, call up their spouses or moms asking them for the order.

 

Once you get to the counter, you get a token, which is a bit of paper with a printed number that is thinner than a post it note. This is your index key in the database for the rest of your shopping experience for the session. If you have any additions to make, you get a new token and that part of your order is treated as a separate order, like the Japanese Shinkhansen, Grand Sweets cannot wait for you to take your “sweet” time, the train must go on! The next step is the billing; the agent that served you and took your order will now read out your order loudly for the rest of the people in the queue to add to their purchase plans. I did not think of this back in the 1990s, but now it seems like a good Marketing strategy. A typical read-out to the Cashier would sound something like this “453-12 Kaal Kilo Mysore Paak, Arai kilo Jaangiri, Oru Kilo Mixture”.

 

The cashier would inevitably get it all right and no one would have to repeat anything. Those ears are well trained. I have never quite figured out what the numbers in the beginning refer to, I know that the 453 refers to your token number, but the following 2 digits, I have no idea. I have never asked thus far since it would hurt my penchant for finding the pattern. For a long time I thought it was a code for the net weight which the cashier would use to verify the order, but once that did not fit in the pattern since I got different numbers for the same net weight. I did not venture another guess, but it can’t be rocket science. It has to be something that the counter lady would have immediate access to or can derive with little pain. This is what lead me to the weighing game, but my current conjecture is that it could be the 12^th time this token number has been used during the day. I need to visit Grand Sweets multiple times during the day and bribe them into giving me the same token number J

 

The cashier would then announce the amount you owe in almost the same volume as the counter agent. This could double up as another peer pressure marketing strategy like the school donation collection schemes which have names and amount donated to encourage people to donate similarly. Once you have paid, you make your way to the “Donnai” counter. For the uninitiated, the “Donnai” is a sampler that is given as an incentive for your purchase to keep you munching some sweet, savory or a rice item whilst your order is being fulfilled. The number of donnais you get increases linearly with your purchase bill total. This is a major attraction and primary reason why some people prefer Grand Sweets. Donnais vary by the hour in the day. Some people who have observed patterns even time their purchases to sync up with their favorite donnai item. Some of them get inside information from someone who has just purchased from Grand Sweets on the Donnai of the hour and if it is for instance, tayir saadam, they’d rush immediately to buy something just for savoring that tayir saadam in the Chennai summer afternoon! The look of disappointment when the donnais run out is hard to miss on customers’ faces. Some don’t care, but most do.

 

Most often, depending on the order and the traffic, when you are half way through the donnai, your token number is called out or appears on the LED. You make your way to proudly display your token number one last time before picking up your order and heading for the exit. This is a typical shopping experience at Grand Sweets. Nothing much has changed inside it since I first set foot into it in 1990, only on the outside; there are much fewer trees and much lesser open space. But that is another topic for another post.

~ by The Tarun on April 30, 2007.