Since the hotel guests enjoyed the jam served at breakfast, they requested jam to carry home. To fulfill this demand the jam was packed in the guests' containers.
The year Malas was officially born.
A small room was set aside at the hotel for the first factory. The machinery that this factory had 3 stoves.
As Jam started making inroads into the market, a syrup category was launched as an expansion.
The company took a loan from Maharashtra State Finance Corporation. This was the first & last loan taken from any financial institution.
As the jam bottle started traveling it was important to have a few months'shelf life. Serious studies were done to resolve this and the wax seal was developed.
Bhose land where the original factory and the registered office stands today was purchased in this year.
With great difficulty, part construction was completed and operations started.
Malas worked closely with Larsen & Toubro and the then JG Glass to develop the lug cap which in today's time without lug packaging is unthinkable.
Malas has been credited with bringing novel products to India. But apart from bringing in products, Malas has also been instrumental in setting trends in packaging.
This category was the first for India. Consumers had to be convinced to try this product. Food and drug had to be convinced about this category. Today this category is recognized by FSSAI in their manual.
Further expansion and mechanization were brought in.
After completing their education Mufaddal and Murtaza join business, bringing new ideas and thoughts to the business.
The first computer was brought in. Every time an entry was made, we had to wait for processing and then the next entry would be made.
This was a big occasion at Malas.The consignment was checked and double checked. The consignment reached Bahrain in unsalable condition. But we got up and moved on. Today Malas does substantial exports.
Labelling was the bottle neck, so this machine was brought in. But initially it slowed down the process and over time became an important equipment.
Refill pack another first for Malas was intially packed manually and then automated by this machine. This brought growth to Malas.
From semi automatic to automatic labeling machine was a long journey but a fruitful one. The staff was sure that this would not work, but it did. The machine manufacturer visited Malas factory to see how the machine was working and he stated that in every visit to Malas he always learns something from Mr. Mufaddalbhai.
To further expand new fillers were installed.
The new factory building was built at Bhose.
Going International - with the success of Melties in the Indian market, a plant was setup in Egypt to gain access to East African markets. Due to middle east crisis this plant had to be shut down &the machinery brought back to India.
This was a turning point. Huge outputs were possible with this installation.
Consumer VOICE says "The Good Buys!- Mala's, the little-advertised brand from Maharashtra, gets the top position and a score of 86.53. Mala's pectin content is low, which is a good sign; and it also has the least amount of the preservative benzoic acid. Priced at 52 for a 500 gm jar, it is cheaper in terms of its cost, than some other brands.".
Malas got an opportunity to tie up with Tampico an US based company. Though the tie up didn't last long, but a lot of international systems and a new level of hygine was put in place.
Moulded jellies was first developed by Malas in 2001, but due to extensive development in Crush & Jam, this project was put aside. In 2011 the project was taken up again. Apart from launching froogle a Malas brand, tie up with Parle and wipro happened in the jelly space.
Due to fast growth rate adjacent sheds were purchased.
Analytical department was setup for statistical and strategy planning with ERP operation systems along side with a fully dedicated Research & Development Lab for all product development for future launch.
