From table cleaner to Rs 1,700-crore food business: How K S Thirupathi Raja built Adyar Ananda Bhavan (A2B)

Long before Adyar Ananda Bhavan became a recognised name in the food business, K S Thirupathi Raja was learning the trade from the ground up. He started out as a table cleaner before moving on to sweet-making, working in Chennai and Mumbai to gain experience. He eventually returned to Rajapalayam, where he took up farming on his ancestral land. The farming business initially did well, encouraging him to lease adjoining agricultural land with borrowed money. However, a devastating dust storm destroyed the farmlands, wiping out the crops and leaving him with huge debt. Rather than continue with farming, Raja decided to return to his earlier trade.

In 1960, he opened Guru Sweets, a small sweet shop in Rajapalayam. It marked his first step towards building a business in the food industry, although the road to establishing a larger brand would take several more years. In the mid-1970s, Raja moved to Bengaluru with his family and started Srinivasa Sweets. His wife and two sons, K T Venkatesan and K T Srinivasa Raja, supported him in running the business. According to the company's account of its history, the sons even postponed their education to help manage the shop. The family operated the business together, with Raja handling sweet-making, his wife assisting him and his sons taking care of different responsibilities at the shop.

The next big leap came in 1979, when Raja and his sons opened Sri Ananda Bhavan in Washermanpet, Chennai. The outlet marked the beginning of the business that would eventually become Adyar Ananda Bhavan. A second outlet in Adyar during the 1980s proved important in shaping the brand's identity. The business adopted the neighbourhood's name, becoming Adyar Ananda Bhavan. The name itself had a local connection. In an interview with The Times of India in 2022, director K T Srinivasa Raja said the family drew inspiration from the sprawling banyan tree at the Theosophical Society in Adyar. "We wanted to create a brand for our sweet shop.

The banyan tree is very popular in Adyar," he said, explaining the thinking behind the name. The family also expanded its product range beyond its initial offering, introducing sweets and savouries from different parts of India. This helped the business establish itself as a retail food brand across Chennai and neighbouring markets. For several years, sweets and savouries remained central to the business. However, the family eventually looked beyond retail outlets to expand its customer base. K S Thirupathi Raja passed away in 2001. Following his death, his sons K T Srinivasa Raja and K T Venkatesan took over the full management of the business.

In 2005, Adyar Ananda Bhavan entered the restaurant business under the A2B brand. The move added a new revenue stream to its existing sweets and snacks operations. The restaurant format also broadened the occasions on which customers could engage with the brand. While the sweet shops primarily catered to purchases of sweets, snacks and packaged products, the restaurants brought everyday dining into the business. The restaurant expansion gathered momentum over the following years. The business also moved beyond Tamil Nadu into other Indian markets and overseas locations, including the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and the UK.

In February 2018, the company introduced its own delivery application, adding a digital ordering channel to its physical retail and restaurant network. The business has continued to broaden its offerings. Its current website also features packaged food products, gift hampers, bakery offerings and hospitality under the A2B Residency name. The expansion into restaurants and newer markets coincided with a steady increase in the company's scale, although growth has not been linear. According to financial data available on Tracxn, Adyar Ananda Bhavan Sweets India Private Limited reported standalone revenue of around Rs 571 crore in FY15.

This increased to Rs 643 crore in FY16 and Rs 801 crore in FY17. Revenue growth moderated over the next few years, remaining between approximately Rs 812 crore and Rs 861 crore from FY18 to FY20. Profitability also fluctuated during this period, with net profit falling to Rs 7.5 crore in FY18 before recovering to Rs 28 crore in FY19. The COVID-19 pandemic brought another major disruption. Revenue dropped to Rs 516 crore in FY21 from Rs 861 crore in FY20, while the company reported a net loss of around Rs 5.3 crore. However, the business recovered in the subsequent years. Revenue rose to Rs 812 crore in FY22 and crossed the Rs 1,200-crore mark in FY23, reaching approximately Rs 1,205 crore.

The growth continued in FY24, when revenue increased to Rs 1,406 crore. In FY25, it reached around Rs 1,502 crore, representing a year-on-year increase of about 7%, according to Tracxn. The numbers indicate that while the company has expanded its revenue base considerably, its net profit growth has not kept pace with the increase in scale. The company is operated through Adyar Ananda Bhavan Sweets India Private Limited, with the founder's sons, K T Venkatesan and K T Srinivasa Raja, playing key roles in its growth and management. Today, A2B's website describes the business as having more than 185 outlets worldwide, a workforce of over 12,000 and a turnover exceeding Rs 1,700 crore.

These are company-reported figures, while its latest financial data cited above relates to FY25.