Buy your orangewala bread at this bookstore

If you were to say “engagement” these days, most people think ‘likes’, ‘shares’, ‘tweets’ and ‘favourites’. But if chats with the owners of a thriving, though not flamboyant, bookstore in Bangalore are anything to go by, our current buzzwords may be blinding us to the value of making a connection. Atta Galatta, a bookstore that kicked off in April 2012, has been investing resources and energy in an alternative, yet complementary, business.

Starting out as a space that retails books, including those by regional language writers, as well as nurturing and hosting artists from all spheres, Subodh and Lakshmi Sankar ventured into baking in August 2012.

Why? “It just kind of happened,” says Subodh.

“Our original idea was to create a bookstore with a small bakery attached to it, so that people could order something while they browse here. We invested in a little shed in the Electronics City area and some machinery, baking a few things there that we could offer at the store,” he explains. The tarts, cinnamon rolls and cupcakes were developed over time.

Subodh recounts how around the time they were forced to take up another premises for Atta Galatta (the bookstore) some months after setting up operations, a teashop owner came across their shed. He asked them if they would bake buns for him.

The Sankars agreed, first making a batch of 20 buns that sold so well that other teashop owners in the area were interested. They now make 20,000 buns a day for takers in semi-urban Bangalore.

Over time, learning the tricks of commercial baking, they ventured into making breads too. “Buns are a high-volume business with low margins for us. But breads work better in urban markets. Because we had gathered the experience, we decided to test our loaves of bread in a small geography in the city.

“Just going by primary market research, our breads are appreciated. We hear people saying “ Orangewala bread dena ” (the bread in the orange packing, please!) and that has given us the confidence to invest in creating the Atta Galatta brand of bread,” Subodh says. Everyone in the city wants bread and it’s a product segment where buyers tend to be brand-agnostic — people either want ‘white bread’ or ‘brown bread’ and don’t necessarily ask for a particular brand.

“Our focus is not to make fancy bread that costs a lot, but to offer people who like Atta Galatta a tasty loaf of bread that is as healthy as we can make it,” says Subodh. Atta Galatta bread comes in white, brown, multi-grain, old-fashioned tutti-frutti and masala varieties — prices range from ₹24 a loaf to ₹32. Supported by 21 distributors in the semi-urban market and one distributor for their breads within Bangalore’s city limits, the Sankars intend to take their baked goods into rural areas too without raising the volumes outside the city more than necessary at the moment.

Deeptha Vivekanand, a professional storyteller, buys Atta Galatta’s multi-grain and masala loaves regularly. “It’s really soft compared with other breads in the market. There’s also always fresh stock when I want to pick up some, either at the neighbourhood store or at their bookstore,” she says, adding that she sees no confusion in the direction Atta Galatta has taken with their baking business.

What are the odds that you pick up the “ orangewala bread” you love the taste of and do not remember a favourite bookstore with the same name? Isn’t that the real deal with being ‘hooked’? Or ‘engaged’?