Hojjathassanpour2023 at 20:33, 24 September 2025

2025-09-24T20:33:26Z

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{{short description|Indian milkshake brand and restaurant chain}}
[[File:Keventers Milkshake.png|thumb|The logo of Keventers Milkshake]]
'''Keventers Milkshake''' is an Indian [[milkshake]] brand and [[Restaurant chain|chain]] of restaurants and [[kiosk]]s that began operating in 1925. The brand mostly dissolved in the 1970s and was revived starting in 2014. It is owned by Super Milk Products Private Limited. In 2021, the company had a combined total of over 200 Keventers Milkshake restaurants and outlets in India. Keventers Milkshake specializes good in classic and custom-style milkshakes and claims that it is the first milkshake brand made in India.<ref name="Ghosh 2019"/>

==History==
Keventers Milkshake was founded in 1925 by Edward Keventer, a Danish [[dairy]] entrepreneur and technologist who the British Government recruited in 1889 to modernize India's dairy industry.<ref>{{cite news |agency=Press Trust of India |title=Keventers on expansion drive; targets turnover of Rs 700 cr by 2025-26 |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/keventers-on-expansion-drive-targets-turnover-of-rs-700-cr-by-2025-26-121102400296_1.html |access-date=21 January 2022 |work=[[Business Standard India]] |date=24 October 2021 |archive-date=21 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121211629/https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/keventers-on-expansion-drive-targets-turnover-of-rs-700-cr-by-2025-26-121102400296_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hindustan Times 2021">{{cite web | title=Taste of life: Keventer's "Poona experiment" gives cheese Indian stamp of authenticity | website=[[Hindustan Times]] | date=16 December 2021 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/pune-news/taste-of-life-keventer-s-poona-experiment-gives-cheese-indian-stamp-of-authenticity-101639651185847.html | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220142707/https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/pune-news/taste-of-life-keventer-s-poona-experiment-gives-cheese-indian-stamp-of-authenticity-101639651185847.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Keventer moved to India in 1889, and in 1894 purchased the floundering Aligarh Dairy in the [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]].<ref name="Tandon 2017"/> Realizing success and profitability in revitalizing the dairy, Keventer established another dairy farm in 1925 in the [[Chanakyapuri]] area of [[New Delhi]], India.<ref name="Tandon 2017">{{cite web | last=Tandon | first=Suneera | title=Keventers: A brand that once meant Cassata to Lutyens' Delhi is now wooing millennials with milkshakes | website=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]] | date=5 September 2017 | url=https://qz.com/india/1057099/keventers-a-brand-that-once-meant-cassata-to-lutyens-delhi-is-now-wooing-millennials-with-milkshakes/ | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220113134/https://qz.com/india/1057099/keventers-a-brand-that-once-meant-cassata-to-lutyens-delhi-is-now-wooing-millennials-with-milkshakes/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Within a decade Keventer had established eponymous plants in [[Delhi]], [[Aligarh]], [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] and [[Darjeeling]].<ref name="Caldron 2015">{{cite book | title=Keventers: The Revival of a Legend | publisher=CaLDRON Magazine | year=2015 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFc1CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 | access-date=20 February 2022 | pages=56–57}}</ref>

After Keventer died in 1937, industrialist Ram Krishna Dalmia, a Keventers distributor at the time, bought the brand in 1940.<ref name="Tandon 2017"/> Dalmia diversified the company into producing powdered milk, condensed milk, milkshakes and ice creams.<ref name="David 2015">{{cite web | last=David | first=Shantanu | title=A Tale of Two Dairies | website=[[The Indian Express]] | date=29 March 2015 | url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/a-tale-of-two-dairies/ | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220195052/https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/a-tale-of-two-dairies/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The company's expansion expanded to 48 distribution points around the [[National Capital Region (India)|National Capital Region]] in [[Delhi]].<ref name="David 2015"/> Keventers also became a major supplier of milk, [[powdered milk]], condensed milk and biscuits to the [[Indian Army]] for several decades up until the 1970s.<ref name="Caldron 2015"/><ref name="Mintlounge 2021">{{cite web | title=How Keventers' Agastya Dalmia made milkshakes trend again | website=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]] | date=8 October 2021 | url=https://lifestyle.livemint.com//news/big-story/how-keventers-agastya-dalmia-made-milkshakes-trendy-111633621008844.html | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220201316/https://lifestyle.livemint.com//news/big-story/how-keventers-agastya-dalmia-made-milkshakes-trendy-111633621008844.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Singh 2021">{{cite web | last=Singh | first=Sakshi | title=Keventers to evolve from milkshake only brand to 'everything sweet' | website=[[The Economic Times]] | date=9 July 2021 | url=https://hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/operations/food-and-beverages/keventers-to-evolve-from-milkshake-only-brand-to-everything-sweet/84264414 | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=21 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121211644/https://hospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/operations/food-and-beverages/keventers-to-evolve-from-milkshake-only-brand-to-everything-sweet/84264414 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 1970s, Keventers' primary plant in Chanakyapuri was forced closed by the Indian government to further expand the diplomatic enclave there.<ref name="Ghosh 2019"/> After this, Dalmia focused his energy on other business notions, losing interest in the Keventers brand.<ref name="Tandon 2017"/> A small number of Keventers outlets continued to exist, run by a few of its remaining distributors.<ref name="Tandon 2017"/>

==Today==
Keventers is owned by [[New Delhi]]-based Super Milk Products Private Limited, which also produces other dairy products.<ref name="Ghosh 2019"/><ref name="Upadhye 2019">{{cite web | last=Upadhye | first=Aishwarya | title=Bottled happiness | website=[[The Hindu]] | date=25 January 2019 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/bottled-happiness/article26089713.ece | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=22 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222003415/https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/bottled-happiness/article26089713.ece | url-status=live }}</ref> Keventers specializes in classic and custom-style milkshakes.<ref name="Upadhye 2019"/><ref name="Caldron 2015"/> Today, the company is known by consumers in part for its unique foil-topped, vintage-style glass milkshake bottles,<ref>{{cite web | last=Nagarajan | first=Nisthula | title=What's shakin'? | website=[[Khaleej Times]] | date=31 March 2021 | url=https://www.khaleejtimes.com/metrolife/whats-shakin | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220112343/https://www.khaleejtimes.com/metrolife/whats-shakin | url-status=live }}</ref> which customers are allowed to take with them when they leave.<ref name="Paitandy 2017">{{cite web | last=Paitandy | first=Priyadarshini | title=This milkshake brings everyone to the yard | website=[[The Hindu]] | date=9 November 2017 | url=https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/this-milkshake-brings-everyone-to-the-yard/article20013316.ece | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=22 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222003407/https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/this-milkshake-brings-everyone-to-the-yard/article20013316.ece | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2014, Agastya Dalmia, the grandson of Ram Krishna Dalmia partnered with his friend Aman Arora in attempts to revive the brand, working in part with a few old recipes of the milkshake that Ram Krishna Dalmia had devised.<ref name="Tandon 2017"/> As Dalmia and Arora had no experience in the restaurant business, they attempted to recruit restaurateur Sohrab Sitaram in their endeavor, who declined the offer to work with the brand at the time.<ref name="Tandon 2017"/> Dalmia and Arora continued anyway, opening their first restaurant in the [[Pitampura]] area of Delhi in 2014, but did not meet success, closing less than a year later.<ref name="Tandon 2017"/> Sitaram later eventually joined as a partner in the endeavor.<ref name="Tandon 2017"/>

In 2019, the company went to the [[Delhi High Court]] in protest about one of the company's licensees, which was alleged to have been purveying Keventers products using inferior milk.<ref name="Ghosh 2019"/> During that time, the judge stated to company lawyers that he had sampled products at several outlets and that the brand is "no longer as good as it used to be" and deemed them as "not at all fit for consumption."<ref name="Ghosh 2019"/> At the time, the franchisee stated that they had made significant improvements, and the judge stated that the licensee and Keventers should utilize dispute resolution mediation to resolve the matter, and did not impose any injunction against the licensee.<ref name="The Indian Express 2019">{{cite web | title=Keventers no longer as good as it used to be: Delhi HC judge | website=[[The Indian Express]] | date=6 June 2019 | url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/keventers-no-longer-as-good-as-it-used-to-be-hc-judge-5768388/ | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220153924/https://indianexpress.com/article/india/keventers-no-longer-as-good-as-it-used-to-be-hc-judge-5768388/ | url-status=live }}</ref> After the judge's statement, some consumers discussed the matter on Twitter expressing disappointment with the product.<ref name="Ghosh 2019"/>

In 2021, the company had a combined total of over 200 kiosks, cafés and brick-and-mortar restaurants in India<ref name="Ghosh 2019">{{cite web | last=Ghosh | first=Somrita | title=Many keventers, but where is the old taste? | website=[[The New Indian Express]] | date=8 June 2019 | url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2019/jun/08/many-keventers-but-where-is-the-old-taste-1987537.html | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220141336/https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2019/jun/08/many-keventers-but-where-is-the-old-taste-1987537.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Munjal | first1=S. | last2=Sharma | first2=S. | title=The Food and Beverage Hospitality Industry in India: An Emergent Segment | publisher=Apple Academic Press | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-000-05343-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7vY8EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT62 | access-date=20 February 2022 | page=62}}</ref> and also has a presence in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Nairobi, Kenya; and Nepal.<ref name="Paitandy 2017"/><ref name="Capital Lifestyle 2018">{{cite web | title=Keventers brings every Milkshake lover in Nairobi to their yard | website=Capital Lifestyle | date=4 October 2018 | url=https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/lifestyle/2018/10/04/keventers-brings-every-milkshake-lover-in-nairobi-to-their-yard/ | access-date=20 February 2022 | archive-date=20 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220155952/https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/lifestyle/2018/10/04/keventers-brings-every-milkshake-lover-in-nairobi-to-their-yard/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of frozen dessert brands]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web | last=Dey | first=Asmita | title=100-yr old Keventers to take milkshake to small cities | website=[[Fortune India]] | date=13 December 2021 | url=https://www.fortuneindia.com/enterprise/100-yr-old-keventers-to-take-milkshake-to-small-cities/106354 | access-date=20 February 2022}}
* {{cite web | title=Mithai Madness Sundae And Hot Chocolate Rum; New Additions To Keventers' Menu Are All Things Decadent | publisher=[[NDTV]] Food | date=24 January 2022 | url=https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/mithai-madness-sundae-and-hot-chocolate-rum-new-additions-to-keventers-menu-are-all-things-decadent-2726913 | access-date=20 February 2022}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://www.keventers.com}}

{{portalbar|Drink|India}}

[[Category:Brand name dairy products]]
[[Category:Ice cream drinks]]
[[Category:Indian brands]]
[[Category:Milkshakes]]

Keventers Milkshake - Revision history

Hojjathassanpour2023 at 20:33, 24 September 2025