FUEL’D CAFÉ & HEALTH BAR
An opening thwarted by the compulsory curfew, the Fonseka’s and the Harshakumar’s didn’t let this little hiccup get in the way of running their operations. Fuel’d, a café converted into a temporary home business, bloomed during curfew – offering customers healthy meals that are personally delivered.
Q WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND YOUR BRAND?
Isuru Fonseka who is also owner of Fit.lk loves to cook and can make almost anything taste good and always used to say that if he wasn’t into fitness, he would be running a restaurant. So, we thought, why not just do both? We named our brand Fuel’d because it was catchy and reflected best what we wanted to be about.
We wanted to serve people healthy food, but also have generous portions and not move too far from the palate they’ve grown up with. There’s a huge stigma in the fitness industry about what Sri Lankans eat, and that truly is our main issue. It’s not really what we eat but rather how much are we eating.
So we’ve crafted our menu as a mix of western and eastern cuisine offering a few interesting options like the ‘The Singlish Breakfast’ and ‘Wheat Free String Hopper Fusion’
Q WHEN DID YOU START OPERATIONS?
That’s actually a funny story, we were actually all set up and ready to launch a few days before the curfew came into play and then we just had to completely shut down. We were not too sure about starting delivery during curfew, solely because no one knew about us and we weren’t sure if anyone would trust a new entity serving them in such a crisis. But in faith and wanting to take care of our employees, we started operation from home 30 days into the curfew and we were an absolute hit!
Q WHAT WAS IT LIKE RUNNING YOUR OPERATIONS DURING CURFEW?
It’s a bit tough. Initially, it was hard to source items we needed for production. Costs were quite high and our profit margins had to be brought down. We didn’t find it fair to increase prices during a situation like this. We still wanted to serve everything on our menu, but also stick to the prices we had decided on. Finding delivery options was also a little tough so we delivered orders ourselves.
Q WAS IT DIFFICULT TO SOURCE YOUR INGREDIENTS DURING CURFEW?
Initially, maybe for the first week that we started, yes it was. But all we did was use alternatives and make do. It cost us a bit more, but we were focused on only serving the best we could.
Q HOW ARE YOU ENSURING THE PROPER HYGIENE MEASURES ARE TAKEN IN PREPARATION AND DELIVERY?
All of us in the kitchen wear head gear and comfortable masks when prepping and cooking. Washing our hands a gazillion times is a given because the sink is so close-by. When packing we make sure to use gloves.
I don’t think anything has changed in terms of hygiene except for the usage of masks. If you are working in a kitchen, hygiene is really important. When it came to delivery, we ensured we had fresh masks and gloves on and tried our best to avoid cash transactions, giving people the option of bank transfer as well.
Q WHAT WAS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART ABOUT OPERATING DURING CURFEW?
The most challenging we would say is packaging and delivery. Having to charge people such high rates for delivery is a crime. I know I would think twice about purchasing something if delivery charge is high. Also finding packaging was hard, we had to purchase packaging that was 5 times our usual cost solely because of a lack of suppliers.
Q HOW DO YOU SEE HOME BAKERS GOING FORWARD POST COVID?
We see a huge potential for our business as well as all home bakers that produce good quality products. Because of Covid many home bakers and businesses have been able to open and share their product with people as before all this, a large majority didn’t know this many home businesses existed. It’s a new relationship and trust that has been built and I’m sure post Covid these businesses including ours will only grow. People like convenience and big establishments are able to provide this. But what Covid has done is help home businesses find solutions to be more convenience friendly. We personally would choose trustworthy quality convenience over fast food.
*Orders can be placed via Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp and on www.fueld-cafe.com (coming soon. Cash, Bank Transfer, Online Card Payments are the accepted payment methods.