M/s. Rote Brothers founder Late Shri. Ganpatrao M. Rote , born in the year 1919, came from a small village called Satarde. At a very small age G.M Rote along with his parents travelled from his village and settled in Kolhapur, situated in southern Maharashtra State. Due to early loss of his father he could complete his education till 7th standard only. Although he studied only till 7th, he was a very bright and sincere student in the school. He from his childhood aspired to be a businessman. But didn’t had any capital, so initially started doing job. In all his work as an employee , he performed it with loyalty, integrity and gave his 100% for the benefit of his employer n his company. Being a curious learner, He performed by himself, more tasks and worked hard in all departments , rather than just doing the things which he was allotted. He always strived for learning new things in work and because of this quality he learned important lessons which are of utmost importance to run a business.

He was courageous and always aspired to have a business of his own. So at the age of 25, with whatever money he had, he left to Conoor (Nilgiris) in Tamil Nadu to purchase tea powder and start the business. That was before India got independent and the tea industry was all controlled by British. Although he couldn’t speak English, it didn’t stop him. He learned some English and interacted with British with manageable English and convinced them and bought his first tea chest. During his tour to purchase tea, as money was very limited, he went to many hardships , had to travel miles walking. He stayed there for many days in worse conditions , and studied all about tea harvesting and its seasons, tea powder manufacturing processes, tea powder quality , grades and its various characteristic features.

With this one chest of tea powder, G. M. Rote started his business as retailer after coming back in Kolhapur.

G.M.Rote believed that “Trust” is the fundamental thing for a sustainable business. And this exactly was his purpose of running a business. He believed that any work done in his business should nurture trust . So even though he started with a very small business, in all his works , he strived to do best so as to generate trust in the minds of customers. He procured best quality teas , offered them at a reasonable rate to customers along with good service . So basically trust, excellent quality & reasonable price with good service were the fundamentals of his business.

As a result of these ethics , his business started growing steadily. Now, not limiting himself as a retailer, he started to sell tea in wholesale. In 1958 he purchased land on station road and started his exclusive tea wholesale shop. His brothers Baburao Rote and Neminath Rote accompanied him in his work. Thus “Rote Brothers ” was formed. His hard work started paying off and he was soon recognized as a quality tea supplier. As a result Rote Bros teas started selling all over Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri & Sindhudurg districts.

He started requiring huge quantities of tea. So he went to Assam as it was the largest tea producing state in India. Also he went and stayed in Kolkata, Guwahati & Siliguri. These three cities were the main centers of tea trade. He acquired all the necessary knowledge of tea trade there , and started to purchase bulk quantity teas directly from the auction centers in these three cities. He also acquired all the necessary knowledge regarding tea tasting there, in which various quality factors of tea such as appearance, taste, colour, liquor, flavor , etc needs to be accessed which is a important criteria to be considered while purchasing good quality tea. He also studied the next process, which is tea blending which is of most importance after you purchase tea, which helps in maintaining tea quality.

After these knowledge of good tea tasting, procuring tea and blending it to a consistent quality , he decided to start tea brands of his own. establishing his own tea brands in those years (late 1950’s) , showed his vision and thinking ,of establishing a solid and sustainable business and because of these qualities he was able to stay one step ahead of his counterparts. He studied the type and quality of tea liked by regional people, prepared quality tea blends & finally started his tea brands named “LAL PAN”& ”HOTEL KING” . he got these brands registered as well. As per customer requirements , in near future he also introduced hisother tea brands namely ”SHRIFAL””HIRA BPS” “TULSI” etc.

He got his company registered with Tea Board and became a auction registered buyer. Along with providing good quality tea and service to customers, he also believed in maintaining excellent track record & goodwill of his company in the eyes of tea gardeners, suppliers & auctioneers. He maintained and executed proper management in his business with tea gardeners,suppliers and merchants. As a result “Rote Brothers” name was respectfully taken in all North & South India Tea Industry.

In a few years , next generation joined G. M. Rote in his business. His sons Ajit, Jinratna, Gunwant & Uday started working and serving their customers and carried successfully the business of the company far ahead, observing all the work ethics and principals which were laid and followed by their father. As the business was increasing, different areas of the business such as tea tasting, procurement, tea blending, distribution, accounts & marketing, were undertaken successfully by all of them & performed efficiently in their respective fields. In their years of work, the 2nd generation considered minutely & adapted efficiently according to the ever changing market trends, demand and needs and successfully implemented various improvements in the work & service of “Rote Brothers”. They also started a new blending and storage facility with increased capacity at Ujalaiwadi, which helped in increased production & cope up with increased demand. There was continuous improvement in the packing, management, delivery of goods and post sales service. These improvements along with consistent & good quality tea , the demand continuously increased ad the market area expanded as well.

In mid 90s poly pack trend started. This resulted of introducing of new brands of Highgrown Assam premium quality dust and leaf tea blends called “ HOTEL KING PREMIUM” & one of its kind “LAL PAN FAMILY MIXTURE” which is a excellent quality blend of Assam dust,leaf & OP tea.

Soon third generation, Ashwin J. Rote & Rohit U. Rote, joined the work. Observing and nurturing the principles and conduct of business laid down by their grandfather & under the valuable guidance of their fathers & uncles, these both are successfully running the business.

“Rote Brothers ” Ujalaiwadi facility contains big tea storage godowns, blending room, poly packing unit, printing unit & finished goods storage. Tea storage godowns are properly constructed RCC buildings to store garden teas, with minimum effect or impact of external weather conditions which keeps the tea freshness & quality intact. Elevated blending room is present and utmost cleanliness & care is taken during blending tea. Bulk packing is done in food grade virgin plastic material & good quality cloth bags are used for external covering. Many advanced pneumatic FFS(Form-Fill-Seal) machines are used for manufacturing poly packets. This poly packets manufacturing facility can produce pouches from range of 10 grams to 1 kg. Printing facility also contains advanced hydraulic winding-rewinding machine & advanced ink-jet printer, where printing is done on packing material rolls and pouches. Poly packaging material is also made from food grade virgin material & procured from one of India’s top manufacturer. After the production the ready goods are properly stored and stacked.

“Rote Brothers ” has an excellent marketing team which is continuously engaged in the sales-supply-service task. Goods supply is done on time with companies own goods delivery facilities to ensure excellent pre and post service to its customers.

In 2004, “Rote Brothers” started its new branch in Nippani (Karnataka State). Now its products are available in Karnataka state. There is a very good response from Karnataka and the branch is running its business successfully. Recently “Rote Brothers” has purchased its own land and office in Nippani.