From a cuppa and bites to breads of all kinds
New addition: The health bread
By Ruqyyaha Deane
On September 7 last year, two young brothers started their very own small business selling first tea and then evening snacks under the name ‘Tea Syndrome’ from a quaint little stall down Stanley Tillekaratne Mawatha in Nugegoda.
14-year-old Sh’lom and 9-year-old Jehayel Fernando used to spend their weekday evenings selling Sh’lom’s homemade tea while their mother Revon would make bites, sweets and snacks as well for people to have along with their afternoon cuppa. So popular was it that eventually they expanded to offer 18 varieties of food and three varieties of tea, their stall too growing in size and style.
However, when the pandemic brought another lockdown in May this year, Tea Syndrome became more Uber and PickMe focused. They also tried making bread for the first time. An introductory post of their ciabatta and fresh bread on social media went viral. With the infrastructure in place and a growing vision to introduce their bread to the market, they were soon accepting orders from different parts of Colombo. It was after the increasing demand for their bread that a difficult decision to discontinue their stall was made.
“What started off as a tiny operation that the two boys were capable of handling alone has now grown to an SME level that cannot coincide with their studies. Therefore they will continue as part of the support system in this family business as we rebrand to ‘Elshaddaii Artisan Breads by Tea Syndrome’ for the bread line and ‘Elshaddaii Culinaries by Tea Syndrome’ for the rest of the food line offered mainly on Uber Eats and PickMe Food,” says the boys’ father Chaminda Fernando.
The family business has everyone taking a different role. As Sh’lom, the founder of this venture focuses on his studies as he preps to sit for his O-levels soon, he occasionally makes his three specialty teas for orders while Jehayel takes up the mantle of Marketing Manager doing marketing interviews and videos.
Brothers Sh’lom and Jehayel with their parents Revon and Chaminda
Head of Operations, taking care of the entire food production aspect from bites to sweets to snacks to dinners and their full range of artisan breads as well as product development is Revon with Chaminda tagged as a consultant undertaking supplies, packaging and all the rest.
Their wide range can be pre-ordered every day before 10 a.m. except on Mondays which is their day off.
Originally an Italian bread, their ‘ciabatta’ loaves are baked with a Sri Lankan twist in four unique flavours from their signature plain ciabatta loaf, rosemary and salt ciabatta, Umami (marmite) with karapincha ciabatta and the Cinnamon Sugar ciabatta. Their ‘Special Fresh Bread’, more like a ‘kade paan’ but made with less yeast and salt is a slightly heavier loaf, absolutely delicious with curries or spreads. They have too, the traditional ‘sandwich bread’ which is super soft as well.
Then there’s their ‘100% Wholemeal Health Bread’ and their latest addition to the menu is the ‘7 Seed 100% Wholemeal Health Bread’ which was introduced on August 20. With seven super seeds from chia, flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, quinoa and almonds, this loaf is packed with nutrition.
“We do not add any preservatives, additives, stabilizers or improvers in our bread making process. All our breads are home-baked in our home kitchen adapting to ultra safe hygiene measures,” they tell us adding that they are currently working on a gluten-free bread for people with allergies.
Their day starts off with sending their sizable customer base active on WhatsApp a reminder (or sometimes announcements and updates) to send in their orders before 10.30 a.m. Once all the orders come in, they start scheduling the bread process according to the type of bread and the varying prep/cook durations before the kitchen gets super busy. While the kitchen is focused entirely on the production side, and once the breads are ready by 5-5.30 p.m., they start the packing whilst booking the deliveries through PickMe or UberEats.
Dispatching of orders usually takes up to about 2 hours. The day only ends after dinner when the day’s accounts are settled, performances are reviewed and the next day’s schedule is laid out.
The Fernando family is full of gratitude to God and their loyal customers who have been with them from the beginning as well as their new customers, family, friends and everyone who has lent them a helping hand.
To check out Tea Syndrome and all their goodies, follow them on Instagram – tea_syndrome and Facebook – teasyndrome or whatsapp/call them for inquiries on 0773183777.