Chandra's sweet success

By Roshan Peiris

She is a pretty, gentle, soft spoken woman. Looking at Chandra Madanayake dressed elegantly in an Indian voile saree not many would connect her with t he food business. As a girl at Musaeus College, Chandra excelled in Domestic Science. 'I come from a family that has been in the food business. My father is one of the three Maliban brothers, the Wickremepalas," Chandra said.

Her mother too was a very good cook and she inspired Chandra ßto take to cooking.

Chandra put up a small building now known as Fab (short for fabulous) and in her twenties started a restaurant which today is well known and patronised.

"My husband Upali Madanayake who works at ACL Cables now helps me a lot with the financial management side. As my two girls and son started school he asked me to take to the food business as I had time on my hands."

Chandra began by giving cookery demonstrations especially in cake making and pastries in which she excels.

"My idea was that the average person who cannot patronise big hotels could have a taste of the same kind of food. With this in mind I began Fab. I had only twelve persons on my staff then."

Today Chandra handles two hundred staff together with her second daughter Roshini who seems to have the same fondness for the family business.

"I staunchly believe in maintaining high standards in the quality of the food served at the Fab. I have told my staff this and keep emphasising it when department heads meet me every week for discussions on menus etc."

"I am very grateful to my mother who originally gave me the stimulus to begin the catering business, at the same time insisting that food should be made with quality in mind.

I also believe in close supervision," Chandra said.

Today one can sit in the cool surroundings of Fab and enjoy short eats, iced coffee and fruit drinks.Chandra takes in catering orders for teas, lunches and dinners. "But my main interest is in cake making and decorating cakes," she says.

"I have a young boy who has worked in Germany and in the Middle East who is excellent at this."

As a little girl in her pig - tails she used to walk with her father into the chain of Maliban restaurants. This whetted Chandra's appetite for making and serving food. The little girl secretly cherished the thought that some day she too would take to the food business.

"It is a difficult field for a woman to break into. Men don't like taking orders from a woman. Especially chefs who are generally, if not always, men. But with a great deal of tact in handling the staff I succeeded.

Today they have learnt to respect my views and accepted me as their guide, friend and counsellor." She does a man sized job and does it well. In early May, Fab with a new look will be opened.

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