The Crown Bakery at Bazaar Road in Mylapore.
At Bazaar Road in Mylapore, lined with a diversity of shops, “hoary-haired” enterprises show up with impressive frequency. Aged 121, The Crown Bakery wins the demographic tug-of-war among these old enterprises hands down.
Established in 1905 by Kanthasamy Mudaliar, the reins of the shop would be passed on to the current family, the descendants of M. Srinivasan, an admirable torch-bearer of this patiently baked legacy, for several decades.
While Srinivasan’s daughter Bhavani Srinivasan manages the shop, the younger generation is parked in the wings, stepping in from time to time to bring its own energy and ideas to the oven.
Twenty-three-year-old Keerthana .V, Bhavani’s niece and Srinivasan’s granddaughter and one who epitomises the Gen Z engagement, recalls a brainstorming session by the Gen Zers in the family that resulted in the introduction of ice cream cakes to the bakery’s bill of fare. On a slightly tangential note, in a renovation exercise carried out around five months ago, the bakery increased its showcases from two to three, with one showcase dedicated to ice cream cakes.
The younger generation’s suggestions were instrumental in the introduction of puffs and pastries and those ice cream cakes, bringing contemporariness to the bakery’s repertoire. On the subject of repertoire, the bakery also continues to make soup sticks, a simple and traditional product given to babies during teething.
But there is no cause for the old offerings (breads and buns, bun-butter jam and regular cakes) to feel threatened by this New-Age approach. If food is a music album recorded in flavours, popular demand ensures some “flavours” are played on a loop. The bakery’s bun-butter jam belongs to that category and remains a clear, all-time favourite. And tradition around how it is offered to the customer is also fiercely preserved: each serving is prepared freshly in front of the customer rather than packaged and left on the shelf. Here, Keerthana volunteers a trivia: during World War II, the bakery reportedly rationed bread, and according to history passed on by word of mouth, British personnel stationed in the area bought bread from here when few shops were distributing it. This is an account Srinivasan had narrated to Keerthana as well as the other grandchildren in the family.
The old recipes remain unchanged, preserved on yellowed pieces of paper, written in an ink that defies erasure. “We do not try to fit in a particular box or overly modernise anything,” says Keerthana. The idea, she explains, is not to replace tradition but to let it grow alongside the tastes of the new generation.
This balance is likely the reason it manages to keep its customer base as well as add steadily to it. She observes, “People have always liked what we produced over the years and hence they keep coming back.” The connection the bakery has maintained with its customers is most evident during the Yule tide. Ahead of Christmas, The Crown Bakery’s rum-soaked plum cake, prepared with dried fruits and raisins soaked in rum for months, draws customers from across the city and beyond. Some even send cakes abroad to relatives. “Our plum cakes are to be killed for, to be honest. I myself was craving these plum cakes while I was in the United Kingdom doing my Masters, and my family has sent it over multiple times,” Keerthana says.
If The Crown Bakery has managed to ford challenges in recent times, including reduced access to its doors due to Metro Rail work, it is the desire to see the enterprise survive time that is shared by family members across generations.
Asked what makes this shop unique other than the menu, Keerthana observes notes that at one level, this bakery is women-centric, their role in its continuance being prominent. She explains: “After my grandfather passed away, it has been only the women who have run the place. Our family itself is women-predominant. My grandfather has four daughters and each of them has one daughter. And most of those taking care of the bakery are women.”
And then the Gen Z factor: there are eight grandchildren in the family. And this constituency takes pride in the bakery. They represent the next generation of custodians, set to ensure that a story that begun in 1905 continues. Keerthana notes she or any other youngster in the family will be honoured to take it forward.
“You will see us for many more years,” is her beaming response to the challenges of the times.
(Ahead of Madras Day, Resilience Series tracks old markets in the city that are under the shadow of a major civic infrastructure work but are soldiering on with inimitable poise.)
Published – August 16, 2026 07:43 am IST
