7 P's of Pani Puri Marketing Mix

Let me not be clichéd and put a disclaimer that this article is only for those who truly love Pani Puri. Yes, of course, it is for them. But it is more for those who:

1. Put this dish among their top 3 only dishes they could eat for the rest of their lives,

2. Never so no to Pani Puri because 'they just had a salad' or 'they just had it last week', 

3. Are not overtly finicky about where they have it from.

Now I am no business guru to to advise with confidence on the marketing model of any service, but I daresay I am particularly discerning about my Pani Puri that I can consider myself a combination of Philip Kotler and Vir Sanghvi to give profitable advice to anyone willing to start a Pani Puri business. And that, I shall, now, here. Thank you very much.

For the uninitiated, the marketing strategy of any product is based on 4 P's: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. For a service, there are three extra P's: People, Process and Physical Evidence. If you agreed with the three points I stated at the beginning of the article, you would also agree that Pani Puri is not a product, it is a service. And hence, I shall lay down the 7 P's of Pani Puri Marketing Mix.

1. Product:

A soap is a soap is a soap, perhaps. But a Pani Puri is not any Pani Puri is not just a Pani Puri is never the same Pani Puri. Now there is a variety of Pani Puri across India and each has its takers, but my personal favourite is the basic teekha pani, meethi chutney along with ragda or sprouts stuffings. The burst of the spicy and sweet flavour is much better than just jeera, pudina, and I don't know what. Why don't you just eat papad and drink along jeera and pudina flavoured water in that case?

The perfect teekha pani is the one that infused with perfect balance of all the ingredients and is served chilled! And it should be chilled in all the weathers. If it's winter, please serve hot ragda and add another, third dimension to the sweet and spicy combination. If it's summer, tempt me with peppered mashed potato and boiled sprouts. But lukewarm water is as off-putting as lukewarm coffee. I'll tell you about the magic of ice-block in the teekha pani in the Physical Evidence point. 

Now majority of consumers go for 'medium teekha' i.e. both teekha pani and meethi chutney. But there are quite a few who opt for 'sirf teekha'. It is difficult to understand why they would forsake the 'burst of flavour' and all that that I referred to before, but being a connoisseur of spicy dishes myself, I can give them some credit. But inscrutable is the species which insists on 'sirf meetha'! Why even pretend to have Pani Puri in that case? Go have gulab jamun and papad! If I ever have my own Pani Puri outlet, I would refuse to serve such patrons. I wouldn't care even if their wussy kids can't have the teekha pani, but no sacrilege of flavour at the my Pani Puri altar, no sir!

2. Price:

Everything