Ordering from the Hungry Monkey is quite simple, contact Chadini via Facebook on www.facebook.com/ thehungrymonkey.sl/. She only requests that orders be placed five hours early for the food that is on the menu. Furthermore a minimum of two days notice is
Delicious food made with fresh ingredients and love is the secret behind this young entrepreneur, Chadini Fernando, who is slowly making a name for herself in the culinary industry. Cooking was never her forte, however she has soon brought her catering business, ‘The Hungry Monkey,’ to a whole new level.
“I worked in advertising for about four years and then year before last I was in-between jobs and I started cooking just out of boredom,” Chadini tells us. Sooner her friends started to ask her for more food, as she tried out new stuff and served it to them.
The Hungry Monkey was born soon after, in June last year (2016).
Chadini first decided to put up a stall at ‘The Hive’, a variety market. “It was just a fluke, I decided to try out a few pastas and see,” she explains adding that she didn’t even have a logo at the time. She quickly put a few things together and started selling them at the market. Her food sold out in a couple of hours. This and the positive feedback which she got, edged her on.
It was definitely a challenge for her to step into the culinary world, because she had no background in cooking and was completely self taught, she tells us. When she first started off, it was “nerve-racking”, and, in each case it was her asking herself, “is anyone even going to buy my food ?” But through time, she got more used to it.
“It’s the response from people which drives me to do what I do,” she tells us adding that while she does love feedback from her friends, it’s always nice when a random person walks up to her and buys her food for a second time and gives her good feedback. “That makes me happy and that’s what’s made me want to keep doing it.”
The Hungry Monkey is a home based business, and the food is made to order. So Chadini doesn’t really buy her ingredients in bulk. If an order is made she literally has to go and purchase the items to be prepared. “The only stuff I keep at home are the ones that are long lasting, like flour etc. So it costs me a bit, because you have to account for the tuk money and all that,” she explains.
Aside from this, while her mum and help at home chip in at times with the cutting and the prepping, the actual cooking is done by her alone.
What’s with the name ‘Hungry Monkey’? we ask her, to which she replies, that she’s always liked monkeys and elephants. “Hungry elephant didn’t sound all that great, but Hungry Monkey had a better ring to it,” she says with a laugh.
Since her first run at the Hive, Chadini has come a long way. She also served her food at the “Colombo Design Market” and also the