P.S. Luckose hailed from a farming family in Bharananganam, which is now
famous as the resting place of St Alphonsa, the nun who died young after a
series of ailments. On the fertile land surrounding his house by a rivulet, he
grew pineapple and sugarcane. They grew aplenty, and since there were no
organised markets at the time, he thought of preserving pineapple in a more
professional way that retained the texture and taste of the fruit. Of course,
he had no idea how to do it, because in his home state, Kerala, nobody had
ever done it.
In the early 1950s, he chanced upon a copy of Karshakan, published from Madras,
in which there was an article on a processing facility in Anantharajupeta in Kodur, Cuddapah
(currently YSR district).
One day, he packed a few pineapples in a sack and boarded a train to Hyderabad.
From Hyderabad, he reached Kodur, and from there, a bullock cart pulled by a single bull took him to
his destination.
Luckose came back to his Poondikulam house an enlightened man. Soon he started putting to practice
what he learned from Anantharajupeta. And the result was exceptional.
He launched the Malabar Fruit Products Company in 1956 at Bharananganam,
a stone’s throw from his house. His products became a big hit, and, as the demand increased,
he found that the one-man-army policy would not work. So, a year later,
he invited his brother-in-law, N.J. Thomas of Ettupara, Kuttanad, to be his partner.
Together, they went on an expansion spree: a fish canning facility was launched in Punnapra,
Alappuzha district, in 1965, fruit procurement centres in Idukki (1965) and Thodupuzha (1968),
and a second fruit processing unit at Vazhakkulam, Ernakulam district, in 1970. In the 80s,
an essential oil extraction plant was added in Bharananganam when his younger son, Joseph Luckose,
a chemical engineer joined him. A fruit and vegetable processing facility was added,
thanks to Joseph’s initiative.
Luckose retired when he turned 60, leaving his business to his sons and brother-in-law.
By then the brands he launched, Fruitoman’s and Malabar’s, had become household names.
Luckose’s youngest son Manuel, a civil engineer, launched a fruit and
vegetable processing unit in Kakkanad, Ernakulam, in 1993, and today,
his products are sold all over India and abroad under the brand name Malabar’s.
