Nirula's is India's oldest fast food restaurant chain. It was Delhi's first fast food restaurant, opening in Connaught Place in 1977. Today it has over 70 outlets in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, offering a "Desi" version of Western fast food items. Nirula's has branched out into other ventures which include ‘Potpourri’, an Indian cuisine casual dining restaurant chain and ‘Nirula's 21’, an ice cream parlour chain, in addition to pastry shops and two hotels in Noida and Panipat.
History
The chain traces its origins to "Hotel India",[1] which was opened at the L-Block in Connaught Place (CP), New Delhi in 1934, by the Nirula brothers, Lakshmi Chand Nirula and Madan Gopal Nirula; it had 12 rooms, a restaurant and a bar.[2] In 1940, at the request of the Indian Coffee Board, they opened the Indian Coffee Shop on Queensway (now Janpath) introducing espresso coffee, which became an instant success. Soon afterwards they launched two theme restaurants —‘La Boheme’, a Hungarian restaurant; and ‘Gufa’, an Indian restaurant.