{"id":28927,"date":"2018-01-09T13:04:15","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T07:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/officechai.com\/?p=28927"},"modified":"2018-01-09T17:51:45","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T12:21:45","slug":"old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Old Monk lovers will raise an additional toast of their favourite rum tonight — its creator, Kapil Mohan, has passed away in Ghaziabad at the age of 88.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kapil Mohan was an unusual man to be leading what was, for a while, the largest selling dark rum in the world. He was a teetoteller, and hardly ever drank the rum that drew a passionately loyal following. And unlike most alcohol companies, Old Monk never advertised — Mohan believed that growth should be fueled from the quality of the product alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"kapil<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not advertise. I will not, and as long as I am in this chair, we will not (advertise),\u201d Mohan had said<\/span> <\/a>in an interview in 2012. \u201cThe best way of my advertising is the product: When it comes to you and you taste it, you look at the difference and ask what is it. That is the best advertisement.\u201d Old Monk’s unusual strategy clearly worked —\u00a0\u00a0till the mid 2000s, was the undisputed leader among the single-brand, not just among rum labels, but the entire branded spirits market in India.<\/span><\/p>\n

It helped that the product had a pedigree that few of its competitors could match. Old Monk’s roots<\/span> <\/a>go all the way back to 1855, when\u00a0an entrepreneurial Scotsman named Edward Dyer, quick to spot demand for cheap beer among the British, set up a brewery in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh. Dyer’s son would later become the infamous General Dyer who’d carried out the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar, but his firm\u00a0would eventually bring much joy to millions of Indians — it merged\u00a0with Meakin & Co. Ltd., forming the\u00a0Dyer Meakin & Co.Ltd in the 19th century.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1949, NN Mohan, an Indian businessman and patriarch of the Mohan family, acquired the company. One of their first products was Old Monk, which was launched on 19th December, 1954. In 1966, the company was renamed Mohan Meakin Breweries, and as the company diversified — it launched other brands, and also a glass-making factory — the term \u2018breweries\u2019 was dropped from the name.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kapil Mohan was pushed to the helm of his family business in the 1970s, after the death of his elder brother. In 1980, the company changed its name to Mohan Meakin, and Mohan oversaw the growth of Old Monk. Old Monk, thanks to its competitive price point and distinctive taste, became the favourite drink of the Indian army, remaining the most-sold drink at army canteens till 2008.\u00a0At its heyday, Old Monk was selling 8 million bottles a year, and was, curiously, even popular abroad — budget travelers who came to India in that period carried back tales of Old Monk with them, and Old Monk began being sold in many international locations. Kapil Mohan was awarded a Padmashree for his entrepreneurial efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Old Monk, however, found it hard to compete with foreign brands of liquor when they started appearing on Indian shelves post liberalization in 1991. Domestic competitors also emerged, including\u00a0United Spirits’\u00a0 whisky Bagpiper, and\u00a0McDowell\u2019s Celebration Rum. By 2005, Celebration Rum had gone past Old Monk as India’s most popular rum. Old Monk’s sales\u00a0also fell, and now the company sells only a quarter of the sales it had at its peak.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kapil Mohan had stepped away from the business last year at the age of 87, and handed over the reins to his nephews. Old Monk might not be the best selling rum in India any more, but it has a fan following that few of its competitors can hope to match. It has fan groups on Facebook, including COMRADE<\/span> <\/a>\u2014 the Council of Old Monk Rum Addicted Drinkers and Eccentrics, and also evokes nostalgic memories from millions of Indian engineers who’ve drunk copious amounts during their college days. Old Monk could use its fan base to stage a revival, but it’ll have to be done by the next generation of the Mohans. Kapil will only be watching down from the heavens.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Old Monk lovers will raise an additional toast of their favourite rum tonight — its creator, Kapil Mohan, has passed away in Ghaziabad…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nOld Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Old Monk lovers will raise an additional toast of their favourite rum tonight — its creator, Kapil Mohan, has passed away in Ghaziabad...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OfficeChai\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficeChai\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-09T07:34:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-09T12:21:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"OfficeChai Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OfficeChai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OfficeChai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"OfficeChai Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/\",\"name\":\"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-09T07:34:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-09T12:21:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5861f1134993293cc28905de7624d6b2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/\",\"name\":\"OfficeChai\",\"description\":\"Startups, Businesses And Careers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5861f1134993293cc28905de7624d6b2\",\"name\":\"OfficeChai Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61d744733248dc647d505d0676bb425323413132ee5447e86aa8eecbbb7b27d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61d744733248dc647d505d0676bb425323413132ee5447e86aa8eecbbb7b27d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"OfficeChai Team\"},\"description\":\"Dotting the i's, crossing the t's.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/officechai.com\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story","og_description":"Old Monk lovers will raise an additional toast of their favourite rum tonight — its creator, Kapil Mohan, has passed away in Ghaziabad...","og_url":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/","og_site_name":"OfficeChai","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficeChai\/","article_published_time":"2018-01-09T07:34:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-01-09T12:21:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"OfficeChai Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@OfficeChai","twitter_site":"@OfficeChai","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"OfficeChai Team","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/","url":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/","name":"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","datePublished":"2018-01-09T07:34:15+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-09T12:21:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5861f1134993293cc28905de7624d6b2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/stories\/old-monk-creator-kapil-mohan-passes-away-88-entrepreneurial-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Old Monk Creator Kapil Mohan Passes Away At 88: This Was His Entrepreneurial Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/","name":"OfficeChai","description":"Startups, Businesses And Careers","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5861f1134993293cc28905de7624d6b2","name":"OfficeChai Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61d744733248dc647d505d0676bb425323413132ee5447e86aa8eecbbb7b27d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/61d744733248dc647d505d0676bb425323413132ee5447e86aa8eecbbb7b27d5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"OfficeChai Team"},"description":"Dotting the i's, crossing the t's.","url":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/officechai.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/kapil-mohan-old-monk.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p685C6-7wz","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28927"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28934,"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28927\/revisions\/28934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/officechai.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}