Mafat lived in Bhandu, a small village in Gujarat, India, along with his brother, Tulsi before coming to Indiana University for an MBA in 1968. After finishing his business degree, he moved to Chicago to work as an engineer at Jefferson Electrical Co. Mafat found that Indian groceries were expensive and hard to find in Chicago, which inspired him to start a grocery store. The first Patel Brothers store opened on Devon Street in 1974, and was operated jointly by Mafat, Tulsi and his wife Aruna, the latter two of which had immigrated from India to help with the store. As of 2017, Patel Brothers has grown into a $140 million chain of stores. On Devon Avenue in Chicago, the street that the first restaurant was opened on, there are many different shops that are part of the Patel Brothers chain: Air Tours Inc., a travel agency; Sahil, a clothing boutique meant for Indian weddings ; Patel Bros. Handicrafts and Utensils, which sells religious memorabilia and trinkets; and Patel's Café, an eatery; and Mysore Woodlands, a restaurant. Patel Brothers maintains its trademarks under PB Brands LLC, which include Dakshin, an Indian restaurant with locations in the Chicago suburbs of Schaumburg and Naperville, Illinois. Patel Brothers is a family business. The retail chain's day-to-day operations are handled by Mafat's sons Swetal and Rakesh Patel, who also operate the Chicago warehouse in Skokie, Illinois. Mafat and Tulsi Patel still own the original store in Chicago and various trademarks. Tulsi Patel's daughter, Susan Patel owns Patel Bros. Handicrafts and Utensils in Chicago. Mafat's sister's sons Mahedra and Harshad operate the two New York warehouses in Queens. They have strongly built the company in the East Coast. Mafat's nephews Bharat and Jayesh manage the stores in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas.
Locations
Current locations
After starting out in Chicago, Patel Brothers was a major success with shoppers coming from all over the United States: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas. The retail chain has spread throughout the United States, mainly the Eastern United States. As of April 2018, the chain had 55 locations, 8 in New Jersey, 6 in Texas, 4 in New York, Florida, and Illinois each, and the rest are spread throughout the eastern United States with one location in Santa Clara near San Jose, California. Patel Brothers are generally located in retail parks along with other stores and restaurants. The largest store is located in Naperville, Illinois, which includes a restaurant called Patel's Fresh Kitchen. The Naperville and Parlin, New Jersey are built using modern architecture. The Patel Brothers locations that are farmers markets include:
After Mafat and Tulsi Patel started their career as grocers they changed gears toward prepackaged ethnic foods. In 1991, they introduced a variety of authentic foods under the umbrella of Raja Foods LLC, which supplies for 60% of Patel Brothers products. Raja Foods LLC operates under seven brands, three of which are Patel Brothers original brands:
SWAD is an original Patel Brothers brand and is the main brand for Patel Brothers products. SWAD is the largest selling Indian food brand in the USA. Swad is a Hindi word meaning taste. The main products of the SWAD brand are ghee, oil, lentils, beans, nuts, and spices.
Patel's Celebrating India is also a Patel Brothers original brand.
Anarkali is also a Patel Brothers original brand.
Ching's Secret
Parle Products
Milhaas
Noorjehan
Raja Foods LLC has 5 warehouses:
Skokie, Illinois, the 60,000 square foot warehouse located in the Chicago metropolitan area, receives food products such as rice, spices, and mango juices from around the world including China, Australia, England, Spain, India, and Pakistan, which are then to distributed to local carriers such as Kmart, Whole Foods Market, Dominick's in Chicago, Michael's Fresh Market in Naperville, Illinois, Indian ethnic stores, and various smaller carriers. The warehouse serves the Midwest and also has additional office space for Patel Brothers.
Patel Brothers sells South Asian cuisine including Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi food products. Their products include beverages, canned and packaged goods, condiments, ghee and oil, grains, health and beauty products, instant mix, kitchen products, lentils and beans, ready to eat food, Indian snacks, South Asian sweets, spices, spice blends, and spiritual items.
Popular culture
In December 2017, Patel Brothers co-founder Mafat Patel was featured in Zee TV's Those Who Made It Season Finale.
