Patel Brothers: 50 stores across America…!

Yogesh Dawda

Jul 31

Mafat Patel founder of Patel Brothers USA.

DT #1601

Patel Brothers is the largest Indian grocer in the US. The business started as a storefront in Chicago, opened by two brothers, Mafat and Tulsi Patel, in 1974.

At the time, the Patels were new immigrants from India, they had trouble finding the ingredients they craved from back home. They purchased a dilapidated shop on Devon Avenue, Chicago and started in small way, they sold the kinds of items you couldn't get at your average grocery store, like fresh spices, mangoes, lentils, and chickpea flour — all imported from India.

The small store turned into a multi-million-dollar brand that now also includes a separate food label, SWAD. That's the brand name you see on the wide array of snacks that Patel Brothers offers, including cult favorites like frozen samosas that somehow taste freshly fried, deeply flavorful chana masala you can make in a microwave, and murukku, a spicy, crunchy spiral-shaped cracker.

After SWAD, in 1991, Patel Brothers started another brand, Raja Foods, to supply its to stores and others labor-intensive Indian meals like palak paneer, chicken tikka masala, chana masala and more.

Today, Patel Brothers has splintered into an $140-million emporium. On that stretch of Devon Avenue in Chicago alone, there is now Patel Air Tours, a travel agency; Sahil, a clothing boutique meant for Indian weddings; Patel Handicrafts and Utensils, which sells religious memorabilia and trinkets; and Patel Café, an eatery. Today, the stores are managed by a rotating cast of family members that stretches over three generations. The establishments are patronized by a motley of ethnic groups beyond the South Asian diaspora.

Opened at 50 locations, most concentrated along the East Coast, some stores are even stretching to Texas and the American South, and one in California. The franchise has proven resilient throughout the ebbs and flows of the American economy.

Patel Brothers is a store that exists at the juncture of pragmatism and fantasy; the store has realized a possibility for pluralist cultural exchange without sacrificing its Indian DNA. Patel Brothers has spawned a subgenre of Indian grocery stores, from Subzi Mandi to Patidar Supermarket, yet it towers over this ecosystem like a citadel of the Indian-American grocery chain.

The brothers' narrative is what we call American Dream, that story of the hard-working, industrious immigrant who proves his worth through serving others, defying preordained odds and obliterating those obstacles for others who follow. To meet Patel family is impossible! They were just too busy, running an empire takes work.

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