Mavalli Tiffin Room

TheMavalli Tiffin Rooms(MTR) is the brand name of a food-related enterprise in India. Having its origin as a humble mess located onLalbaghRoad in Bangalore, it has ten other branches in Bangalore, as well as in other indian cities as well as overseas locations. MTR is also known to popularize South Indian breakfast item,Rava Idli.
The restaurant started asBrahmin Coffee ClubinLalbaghRoad area ofBangalore,Indiaby Parampalli Yagnanarayana Maiya and his brothers in the year 1924.The restaurent moved to a new location in 1960 and was renamed asMavalli Tiffin Room.
This restaurant was closed in the1975 Indian emergencywhen the Food Control Act made it unprofitable to serve food items; It reopened in 1981.
To save the jobs during the time it was closed, MTR started selling spices and roasted flour mixes. That was the beginning of its entry into the convenience and instant food business that becmae MTR Foods.
MTR servesKarnatakaHindufood.The decor is outdated. For many years, customers entered the restaurant through the kitchen.DuringWorld War II, MTR found it difficult to makeidlissince rice was in short supply. According to MTR, they experimented withsemolinainstead of rice and thus invented the breakfast item ofRava Idli. MTR was the first fast-food restaurant in the world to serve 21,000 customers in seven hours.
Maiya family continues to own and manage restaurant with 3rd generation of Maiya family, Hemamalini Maiya, Vikram Maiya, and Arvind Maiya, the grandchildren of Yagnanarayana Maiya.
MTR restaurant outside bangalore can be found in  Udupi, Mysore, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, London, Bellevue and Dubai.
It has been shown on television in the  global travel-related seriesGlobe Trekker. The restaurant building comprises two floors.
In the 1970s, when India was underemergency, a Food Control Act was introduced in 1975 which mandated that food was to be sold at very low prices. This move made it difficult for MTR to maintain high standards in its restaurant business and forced it to diversify into the instant food business, selling ready-to-eat snacks such aschutneysandrasams.Since then, MTR has expanded and diversified, with MTR Department Stores opened next to the restaurant.Currently the MTR brand represents two separate entities; theMTRrestaurant business andMTR Foods, the pre-packaged food business.
MTR Foodswas headed bySadananda Maiya(son of Yagnanarayana Maiya) until it was sold toOrkla, a Norwegian company forUS$80 Million in March 2007.It produces packaged foods in different ranges - spices, instant mixes, ready-to-eat foods, vermicelli, beverages, ready-to-cook gravies, a range of frozen products, papads, pickles, chips, snacks and ice creams.After theKargil War, a lot of changes happened in the packaged ready-to-eat food segment due toDefence Food Research Laboratory(DFRL).It bought the packaging technology from the same DFRL inMysoreand there are no preservatives added to the food while packaging.MTR is the first Indian processed foods company to beHazard analysis and critical control points(HACCP)-certified, a standard of food safety and hygiene.It has also sponsored magic shows and theatre performances and given free samples to the audience, as a means of demonstrating their products.MTR Foods created a frozendosa, which can be heated and eaten right away.MTR Food products are sold online and exported to the countries in the Persian Gulf, the United States, and the United Kingdom.