mumbai inside the cottagelined bylanes of khotachi wadi sits venkatesh subbiahs ideal wafers ask passersby for directions and theyll walk you right up to it or you can simply follow your nose it is 11am and the pocketsized cooking area at the back of the shop is already overrun with drums of freshly fried potato wafers in still more vats filled with water are spud slices waiting to be lowered into the giant frying pan every four minutes a new batch fried in 60 litres of vanaspati is whisked out and added to the drum in about an hour the batch is cooled packed and placed on the shelves outside i dont know how he manages to stand for so long in front of the pan sighs subbiahs wife vaidehi busily packing bagfuls of the salted wafers for a customer so many hours every single day after subbiah has finally exited the kitchen mopping his brow he agrees that the wafer business can be rather demanding in fact if someone asks for my advice id tell them to not get into this business he adds laughing bustling back and forth between kitchen and counter subbiah 49 shows no signs of wanting to slow down though his shop ideal wafers is one of mumbais oldest familyrun wafer businesses the salted potato wafers and peppery banana chips have been drawing buyers from across the city for over five decades now they are fried in vanaspati unlike other brands i once finished half a kilo by myself says 20yearold dadar resident kavita sahasrabuddhe until about two decades ago other familyrun establishments like gala wafers coronation wafers and golden wafers flourished in mumbai today real estate prices labour shortage and bigger brands have forced many to down shutters ideal is among a handful of its kind still going strong along with janta in malad a1 wafers in dadar e and grant road and welcome wafers in mahim the last two were set up by entrepreneurs both inspired by wafer veteran coronation while a1s customers include retailers movie theatres cafeterias and restaurants welcome wafers has made inroads in punjab and gujarat too it has come a long way from the 1970s when founder velji gada made wafers by hand and sold them in the neighbourhood on bicycle today the range has expanded to include varieties like tomato cheese banana chips a newly launched tangy flavour called golden bites and namkeen like chivda and masala salli never say never says sameer gada welcomes secondgeneration owner you need to keep experimenting the tomato flavour took over a 100 tries before we got the perfect combination inputs from regular customers and retailers are key the gujarati community often prefers a less spicy variety while masalapacked wafers are popular up north gada adds supply also follows festival and school schedules at ideal wafers the production of plain potato wafers is cranked up during shravan while gadas retailers ask for tangier kiddiefavourite flavours when school holidays begin gada adds that