It is fascinating to watch a street-side golgappa vendor in action. He picks up the crisp, hollow puri ; makes a hole in the centre with his thumb as if typing on a mobile phone; stuffs a mixture that is usually made of mashed potatoes, chickpeas, spices, chopped onions and coriander; and floods it with an irresistibly tangy water — pani . And, he manages this act with unassuming, yet remarkable rapidity and ease.
But the thing with having golgappas on streets is that one is not sure if it is hygienic, especially when one sees the vendor dipping his fingers into the pot of pani .
Mr Panipuri, a fast food brand, attempts to solve this problem by getting rid of the pot. The pani , instead, is dispensed via a machine a la coffee machines.
Mr Panipuri introduced the golgappa machines for the first time in Ahmedabad.
“We wanted to bring about an innovation in the food and beverage industry,” says its marketing head, Tejus PN.
The brand has three outlets in Bengaluru — GT World Mall, ETA Mall and HSR Layout.
After the vendor stuffs the puris with the masala , the customer can adjust the pani ’s spiciness on the machine and place the puri under the dispenser to get the flavoured water.
The machine, according to Tejus, cost ₹6 lakh and its novelty is attracting many people. “We sell about 200 pani puri plates per centre,” he says. A plate of six normal-flavoured puris costs ₹40.
