Indian Coffee House, Kerala
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Indian Coffee House in Kerala is a part of the restaurant chain bearing the same name in the country. It is notable for being a worker co-operative: it describes itself as "completely owned and managed by its employees. The society is governed by an eleven member managing committee elected from the employees." [1].
The India Coffee Houses were started by the Coffee Board in early 1940s, during British rule. In the mid 1950s the Board closed down the Coffee Houses, due to a policy change. The thrown-out workers then took over the branches, under the leadership of legendary communist leader A.K. Gopalan and renamed the network as Indian Coffee House.
Advocate T. K. Krishnan, a Communist Leader of Thrissur and Nadakkal Parameswaran Pillai, or Coffee House Pillai the State Secretary of the India Coffee Board Labour Union and a thrown-out employee of ICH were the founders of ICHs in Kerala.
There is also an alternative history book about the ICH movement, in Malayalam, the regional language of Kerala - Coffee Housinte Katha or History of Coffee House by Nadakkal Parameswaran Pillai.
