Making of a Biryani master
Serving the hungry, being part of the process, and being loyal to his customers are the secrets to S Abdul Samad’s success
Published: 04th March 2021 05:27 AM |
PHOTO: ASHWIN PRASATH
Express News Service
CHENNAI: There are many statements that could ideally describe the laboured life of S Abdul Samad What you sow, so you reap; what goes around, comes around; Insha Allah; mother knows best. But, if you had to pick just one, it’d probably be ‘strife maketh a man’. And his thallu vandi-to-global restaurant chain story too. The man behind the success that is SS Hyderabad Biryani would not be where he is now, if not for the fire that ravaged his father’s poultry factory and changed the nature of their lives overnight.
Forced to become enterprising, it was his mother’s culinary skills born of the experience generations of her family had gained in the palace of Mysuru that Abdul turned to. In the summer of 1995, three years after the fire, after a prolonged period of search and salvation and a succession of kind encounters, he set up his first thallu vandi selling chicken pakoda.
It took another three years for him to move to the biryani business. The kind where there’s one man with a katta pai full of heavy biryani packages, delighting the hungry merchants of Richi Street and ravenous swimmers near Marina with meaty goodness. In the years that followed, he did move on to take a day job in the marketing world, while also handling party orders for his biryani that had by then garnered a solid word-of-mouth reputation.
It was in 2003 that Abdul’s biryani enterprise found a mortar-and-brick home in Perambur. And there has been no looking back since. While the going had certainly not been easy by any means, trust in his mother’s recipe that he had worked hard to master, faith in God and earnest eagerness in doing his part in the scheme of things and doing it well at that is what has kept him going, he says. Here’s an excerpt from the conversation.
Biryani might have still been a novelty when you started out. But what has made you thrive in the business for so many years, amid such competition?
I was a field worker from the start; that’s what helped me survive the competition. When I was selling biryani in Richi Street, people did come back to my biryani master to get him to make the same food for them. But it wasn’t the same. My mother used to say “You be there through the entire food-making process. Make use of what I gave you, what the cook offered and what you saw fit in both and make a distinct recipe. No one should know what you do to make the biryani taste this way.
But it should be unique.” Even in those days, I used to give a sufficient quantity of rice in each biryani packet. Because people should bless you from the heart after eating and not feel cheated. I would pack rice till it looks enough to my eyes; you take it in your hands and it will feel heavy. People began buying one packet for two. This made my biryani stand out. Even today, there is no measure; people still buy one packet for two.
You have had many principles and ideologies define your work. But, what stands out the most?
When I spoke at an event in Bangkok recently, they asked me what is quality to me. Others would say it is in the key ingredients, flavours... But that’s not it. It’s working in such a way that you know god is watching. Because the customer wouldn’t know what I put in the food when I serve it. But He is watching. And that’s the challenge I present to all restaurants. At least after this pandemic, I ask them to give up adding colours and Ajinomoto (MSG) to food. Today, some chef or master might do it to a stranger; but, the same thing is being done to his kin by someone else. This is how it works.
Beyond good food, what would you like your business to stand for?
The idea is to give. In our big outlets in the city, we plan to provide sanitary napkin dispensers in the women’s restrooms; so that it comes in handy during emergencies. Besides this, we plan to introduce a food bank at every one of our outlets. On my part, I will provide ten packets of biryani. Those in need can approach the counter and they will be offered food from this bank. The public can contribute to this effort too, adding the food they can to the bank. In other restaurants, they will give away food to the needy only after they have attended to the customers. Here, it’s the needy we address first.
CHICKEN FRY THE SS WAY
While all of SS Hyderabad Biryani’s outlets have maintained their standard menu with biryani, tandoori and Indo-Chinese food on offer, the new outlet at Royapuram has stepped off this well-established mould. Shaped like a container unit (though you’re not likely to notice it with all the decor), this outlet features a SS special food court on the ground floor and a small party hall above it. The food court, besides providing SS staples, also offers SS Halal Fried Chicken; and burgers, fries
and the like.
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