By PRANAVESH SIVAKUMAR

Colombo is filled with eateries, cafes, street food and star-class restaurants of mouth-watering cuisine. One among the latest entry of South Indian franchises of repute is the Erode Amman Mess (EAM), situated at Galle Road, Bambalapitiya.

This Chennai-origin food chain, both veg and non-veg, is known for the delicacies they serve, and has now entered and expanded into Sri Lanka too.  Customers have included Tamil movie stars and Sri Lanka’s former cricket captain and current coach, Sanath Jayasuriya.

The number of diners waiting patiently for a seat in their single-floor restaurant is ample testimony to the traditional Erode Culinary Spread they dish out.

As one enters the air-conditioned restaurant, they are greeted by a beautiful statue of Hindu Deity Lord Amman.

Their overseas branches include United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia and Qatar on the cards. In this exclusive chat with Mirror Life, CEO of this restaurant chain, Premkumar and his daughter, also a director, Shwetha, spoke on their entry and expansion into the island.

Q This restaurant is only a few months old. How has it been so far?
Premkumar: Actually, our opening and inauguration were on March 14th. Initially, we had an unlimited vegetarian and non-vegetarian buffet. This food was offered at a very reasonable price, as an introduction to our Kongunaadu Cuisine (a Tamil Nadu-based cuisine). We hosted a grand reception for that, and people enjoyed the food. After the 6th of April, we started with our à la Carte menu. The reception and customer support have been overwhelming so far.

We have an average waiting time of 20 to 30 minutes in the evenings. With such an amazing reception from the public, we are more committed to maintaining the quality of food and the service we offer to customers. We will be doing that as we do elsewhere in all our branches.

Q What prompted you to enter and expand into Sri Lanka?
Premkumar: I had been in Sri Lanka for a while. I came for a tourism-related project and then found there is a big vacuum here in the restaurant industry. That is, quality food at affordable prices. If you want quality food, then you have to shell out a lot of money. Then I thought about Erode Amman Mess, operating in-and-out of Chennai, but spreading worldwide now. Their motto is giving quality food at a very affordable cost; therefore, an ordinary man can at least once a month feast with this food.  

We call it a mess. The mess concept is different from a restaurant. A restaurant is more sophisticated in terms of a fine dining restaurant and etc.  It is a mess, which is a common man’s eatery, but we are providing quality food at a reasonable price in air-conditioned comfort.

Good food with good service, that is our motto.  

Moreover, the promoters of the restaurant are also very fond of Sri Lanka, especially Manjula Madam, the lady behind this entire group and Mr. Prabhu. They are extra fond of Sri Lanka. Therefore, they wanted to venture out to Sri Lanka. I approached them to bring this brand to the country. They, in turn, placed faith in our involvement with our business. My daughter was in training in the Chennai branch for almost a year, so they gave us the opportunity to bring this branch here to Sri Lanka.

Q Shwetha, unlike others, you don’t operate from dawn to dusk. Why the difference, and how does it help you?
Shwetha: We specialise in lunch and dinner only. We also feel like the staff need that time from like 12 to 3.45-4, and then again, we go from 7-11. because we serve and specialise in lunch and dinner.
Premkumar: The basic concept is in EAM worldwide; we have a similar menu, same quality food, you cannot differentiate. If I serve a biryani from Singapore, a biryani from Chennai branch and a biryani from the Sri Lankan branch, the taste is uniform, and so are the others.

That is the standard and the standard operating procedures we follow. The same way, the timing, the menu, operation hours, those are the commonalities we maintain. This is a universal pattern.

Q You talked about market assessment. There are at least 3-4 South Indian-based non-vegetarian and vegetarian restaurants in town. What was your assessment when you were entering? How was the scene?
Premkumar: There is a good reception for every restaurant. However, sustaining the quality and the price factor, everything is essential in the long run because we are not competing with anybody right now. There is a very big demand, and nearly 40 per cent of the tourists are from India. Indians, essentially, don’t explore food. They always go home to cook.

The Tamil Nadu residents want their type of food wherever they go. We did not open this branch based on Indian tourists. We wanted to run based on local support. But the tourists do not get to come, since the locals are already occupying the seats.  

Q If there is an improvement you want to add, what would you like to do?
Premkumar: We will soon be available on Uber Eats and Pick Me Foods. People can order from the comfort of their homes. We also undertake party orders. In Chennai, we do for thousands.

Shwetha: Last week, we had our first outside catering order. We did for 250 people. We saw a lot of our regular customers at the function.

Q Any Sri Lankan dish?
Premkumar: We are, in fact, planning to introduce more seafood. This restaurant revolves around Kongunaadu cuisine. Kongunaadu is in the western part of Tamil Nadu (TN). Western and North TN, are extremely far away from the sea. As a special case, we are working on bringing more seafood into the menu. We won’t be bringing in Sri Lankan taste.

Q What is your speciality/ secret for attracting customers?
Premkumar: The lady behind this, Mrs. Manjula Govindarajan and Mr. Prabhu – they have worked nearly 20 years to develop certain recipes, that is the trade secret. These recipes, masalas mainly, are all manufactured by them. That is the secret of our food’s quality and taste. Our ingredients are handpicked and high-quality. We don’t use oil after one use. All the meat is procured or refrigerated. That is the main reason. Customers are happy, though they wait for 15-20 minutes. After the wait is over, they get particularly good food. I feel sorry for their wait I also do not have much space to accommodate them all.

Q Any reason behind the name – Erode Amman Mess?
Premkumar: Our founder Prabhu’s grandfather, his hometown was Erode. He started as a chef who used to cook and serve for the pilgrims of Periya Mariamman Temple. Even this Lord Amman is a replica of the statue there. He used to cook meat and feed the pilgrims, and that is how it all started. They used to cook for wedding functions and various rituals. The grandsons revived their grandfather’s legacy and started the Erode Amman Mess, in Chennai, in 2019.

They suffered certain setbacks since Covid; however, they bounced back. Their trade secrets are their hard work. Customer service is particularly important. Each customer is the same as a guest at home.

Mrs. Manjula is also very particular that whoever is running the restaurant should be present there. Me, my daughter or my friend is here or else my friend Mr. Pazhani, with whom I share a long-standing bond.

Shwetha: Each branch has a family member; therefore, each branch is taken care of as our family. One of us is always present, hence nothing will go wrong.  

Q Anything else?
Premkumar: I  must mention, I have a local partner, Sivarooban. He is from Jaffna and into many other businesses. He is my local partner. He is more of an investor. He was a tremendous support during the inauguration.  

Shwetha: Also, my dad’s friend and the General Manager, Pazhani.