The iconic and much-loved aerated drink from 1837 has a new avatar with a wide range, beyond their popular raspberry and ice cream soda flavours
Most of Mumbai’s Irani cafés stock this popular aerated drink. File pic/Ashish Raje
In 1837, scientist Henry Rogers started aerated water company Rogers in Byculla as a healthier option of clean, carbonated water over Mumbai’s well water. The set-up, probably West India’s first cold drink and aerated water factory, became popular among the British settlers. Ownership changed hands over centuries. It was last owned by Dinshawji Cooverji Pandole who also owned Dukes in 1889; until it was sold to PepsiCo in 1994.
In 2012, when Dhaval Chheda, a third-generation FMCG distributor, got the opportunity to take over the brand, he decided to revive its flavourful nostalgia. He re-released it into the market in 2014-15, and has since built it back on its feet. In the last seven months, the brand has undergone a complete face lift — new branding, eight flavours — Jeera, Masala Soda, Ice Cream, Raspberry, Orange, Lemon, Ginger, Ginger Ale, along with Tonic Water and Club Soda — and a fresh strategy to take it to the masses.
Dhaval Chheda at his office in Vile Parle. Pics/Satej Shinde
“Till date, we produce the drink with natural ingredients,” reveals Chheda, adding that they are available in 300ml pet bottles produced in collaboration with Spice Island Industries Ltd. We already have packaged drinking water adding to the same. The team is also working on mineral water which will be released
this year.
“A few years ago, I met the yester-year actor Dharmendraji, and offered him a soda. He quickly opened it and took a sip. Nostalgia with this brand is deep,” says Chheda. Currently, they produce 6000 cases a month for the Mumbai market alone. The drink is available in Maharashtra. There are plans to expand across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Rajasthan, Delhi and even Assam, where there is existing demand.
Parag Phadnis, owner of Eat Well Cold Storage in Mulund, who stocks flavours, is happy to see the brand back in action. “Rogers is an iconic brand, which needs no marketing. The moment customers see it; they want to buy it. A Rogers customer is a Mumbaikar in the real sense,” he adds.
Viraf Bomi Boyce, a distributor along the Central suburbs, adds, “I have picked up distribution for Rogers since the last eight months. The idea is to push it out to make it available to everyone in the city, not just restrict it to a single community. While ice cream soda, ginger and raspberry are traditional flavours, mojito and lemon is a key coming-of-age moment for Rogers,” he adds.
Parag Phadnis at Eat Well Cold Storage. Pic/Atul Kamble
In the city, the drinks are available at Parsi eateries and cafés, including Cosmopolitan and Café Colony; clubs like Radio Club in Colaba, as well as popular Matunga food joints like Sharda Bhavan and Café Madras. “It sells well in Pune, Panchgani and Lonavala. We also reach out to caterers to serve them at Parsi weddings and other ceremonies, where the raspberry and ice cream soda are a must-have,” says Chheda.
Sweetness in history
Kurush Dalal
What made raspberry soda so popular among the Parsis, we ask, Kurush Dalal, food historian and archaeologist. “One honest answer. It was sweet,” he quips.
Sharing a practical nugget, he adds, “The drinks used to be on the sweeter side to keep the contents from going bad. Owners didn’t have to worry about preservatives if the drink had enough sugar and was carbonated.”
“My mother [Katy Dalal] who was a caterer, found Rogers to be a little erratic at that time in the 1970s. Interestingly, a lot of Rogers distributors actually went from house to house in Parsi colonies and neighbouring areas. One could buy a crate of cold drinks. The restaurants were regularly serviced by trucks, and they all had depots for storage,” recalls Dalal, sharing how his aunts in Grant Road and in Bandra would stock raspberry soda in their fridge for him when he visited them as a child.
“Parsis have set up a lot of beverages all over the world. The first two aerated beverage companies in Singapore were both Parsi companies,” he signs off.
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