Last Friday, April 12th, was a sad day because of broadcasting of a short news. It’s really hard to start the weekend with the death news of a renowned craftsman. The news was short: Shahrokh Zahiri, the father of the modern Iranian food industry, said a farewell to life. This much, simple.
This news was very shocking for the CEO of the Plastics Industry media and the president of this website (Mr. A. A. Saatnia). He was acquainted with “Shahrokh Zahiri” during his 30’s and at the peak of the Iran-Iraq war. At his request and guidance, Saatnia designed and produced the first food contact plastic closure for wide-neck glass bottles used for tomato and mayonnaise sauces. In those days, these white coloured metal caps having soft PVC inside liners were imported from Europe. But, a currency crisis resulted in sudden shortage of the caps and many food industries were forced to stop their filling lines and at the best possible solution were only able to send their products to the market and war zones by 200 liters barrels which could have been contaminated and polluted easily.
It was at this point that Mr. Zahiri called Saatnia (at the time a young converter for food industries) and asked him for designing and production of a liner-less plastic cap. The project started a deep friendship that was lasted on Friday April 12th. He collaborated with Shahrokh Zahiri for many years, and this collaboration led to the familiarization of the engineer Saatnia with many managers of the country’s food industry.
Shahrokh Zahiri, like all self-raised people, created many things out of nothing. He introduced the culture of consumption of different “sauces” to the Iranian food menus and, with many innovations, produced a variety of sauces and converted the cooking needs of the families from home-made single products to a mass-producing modern industry; When he started his innovations almost no one knew about some European sauces like mayonnaise or salad dressings.
Self Customer Marketing Policy
May be one of the amazing innovations of Mr. Shahrokh Zahiri was his creative method of being the customer of his own products. During his start-up, as said above, almost no one knew about European sauces, dressings and toppings. What he did, was production of these new food additives, distribution of the products under the brand name of “MAHRAM” in the market and employing some jobless people to buy it from the food shops. The result, further, was amazing, as the shop keepers increased their orders and advised these products to their VIP customers. Utilization of this marketing policy made a competitive market for “MAHRAM” foodstuffs and during 60’s the brand name of “MAHRAM” caught the market.
Shahrokh Zahiri, in the same vein as “Father of the Iranian Food Industry”, never forgot his passed and always remained a guide to industry, government and youth.
Short biography
Shahrokh Zahiri was born in 1930 in the city of Malayer in a middle class and land owner family, and his father was a farmer. During the implementation of the land reform revolution of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, most of his father’s assets were lost. Zahiri’s family lived in Malayer up to his age of 2 yeras, after which they came to Tehran, and lived in Tehran for two years also. Then they settled in the religious city of Qom for his father’s new job and stayed there for about 8 years. He spent the primary and high school in the same city. But his father died very soon, and Shahrokh, the son of a large family, was in charge of the family responsibility. As a result, his high school education was unfinished and he forced to recruit the Ministry of Culture and eventually elected as a teacher.
Shahrokh Zahiri entered to the university when he was also a teacher. He received a bachelor of law degree and ranked from a simple school teacher to a higher ranking high-school teacher. But this also did not satisfied him mentally. He had great thoughts and discovered many talents in himself. So he thought that he should start another job alongside teaching. In this regard he became an employee of a weaving factory as a procurement staff. He used to work there in the mornings and taught at high school in the evenings. Due to his skill in marketing and sales, he was amazed the director of the factory where he worked.
With the development of the factory, textile machinery imports were also added to their activities, and as a result, he was promoted to sales director. Shahrokh Zahiri, then, entered the business world from the same time and pursued both trade and industry professions in parallel. Entrepreneurship by Shahrokh Zahiri method
In this situation, a series of incidents among the Pahlavi Dynasty family (at the time he was an employee of a giant Cultivation Industry Complex belonging to the Shah’s brother-law) created an opportunity for him when Mr. Boushehri asked him to establish a food company. So, without any hesitation, he founded the “Mehram” Company, and from there, he quickly passed the steps for growth and development.
In Iran, the name of Shahrokh Zahiri is known as “Mahram” and vise-versa. In fact, “Mahram” quickly became a symbol of the production of cooking additives, and its activity was mimicked by many investors in the food industry. In this way, “Mahram” and “Zahiri” can be considered as the main model, pattern and founders of many Iranian food industries.
Establishment of tens of other factories and food companies, all famous for their quality, are other parts of his glorious industrial life. During last 10 years, he was also serving as a consultant and a member of the management board of the Iran Chamber of Commerce.
*************
Today, on Monday, April 15, 2019, on the occasion of the death of the father of the modern Iranian food industry, a grand monument was held in western Tehran, a chamber that was found with hundreds of flowers donated by friends of the pioneer of the food industry.
At the ceremony, there were many senior executives from ministries and private industries, and with this presence, they showed their gratitude to the 70-year of service of this artisan in remembrance.
The group of the Plastics Industry Media (PIMI, PIME, PIMW) sadly condolences the passing away of this man of industry, and wishes him an eternal peace.
