Made with Love by Has

During the lockdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when everyone was stuck in their homes, denied of delicacies they used to enjoy at various restaurants either because the restaurants stopped operations, or it was too far to travel to get any food or it was not safe to get food delivered from a business given the highly contagious and deadly COVID-19 virus. Fear and uncertainty of the virus sent ripples of cautiousness through Colombo, Sri Lanka from its first wave, causing a lockdown by 28th of March, 2020. People were forced to eat whatever was cooked at home, and there were very limited options to pick from given access to groceries was limited as supply chains were heavily hit by the pandemic fears and import restrictions into Colombo and export shortage from other countries that were recording heavy casualties.

While people were trying to figure out the supply chain mess themselves, many facebook groups emerged allowing suppliers or vendors to post their goods and for consumers to inquire the others on where to find what they were looking for. While most of these groups created very low quality communities full of scammers and misleading posts, one was heavily moderated by a generous and talented Sulakshana Seneviratne called 'Grocery Delivery Info'. The tale of this community, its rise and fall is a story for another day. Important point is how a post appeared from a person named Hasanthi advertising Pot Biriyani to the Grocery Delivery Info community. If you're not from this part of the world, I imagine you going 'huh..Pot Biriyani... Is that even legal', I assure you this isn't that kind of pot. It is literally a clay pot full of Biriyani.

Hasanthi, a teacher-turned-chef created her own brand, Made with love by Has operated her business from Kottawa but delivered to most places in and around Colombo with the help of her husband and her cousins. Why was her food such a big deal? They were home cooked and delivered by themselves. People were quickly convinced that it was no different from them cooking food at their own homes, only Hasanthi's food were so much more tastier and saved them tons of time cooking and cleaning, not to mention the trouble one had to go to find the groceries in the first place. 

You just had to DM them on facebook or on WhatsApp and let them know what you want and when. I ordered Pot Biriyani for starters. I was very happy to find Hasanthi and her kids driven by her husband with the food still quite warm, packed beautifully and wrapped in foil to preserve heat. 

We and our parents enjoyed every bit of food that night which was plenty,  filled with grilled chicken, cashew, eggs, sausages and the rice cooked in chicken curry. absolute delicacy! And the price? I'd say price was just right, it was not cheap, but nor was the food. It contained a lot of expensive ingredients and it was cooked to perfection, so the value was beyond the price.

From then on we ordered many items from time to time from her. For several dinners, lunches, evenings. We even tried her new items that were added to the menu, some sandwiches and assorted boxes of amazing food items. All consistent with quality, taste, price and service. She gained traction among the community and grew organically through social media from zero followers to over 1,500 followers, mostly repeat buyers now.

She keeps growing into new areas, taking bigger risks. She added cheese kottu, a fusion food very popular among Sri Lankans when done right. Not just that, she took it up a notch and accepted big orders. Packaged sustainably and in the right potion sizes, community loves her kottu and it seems its a regular item on the menu now.

From individual orders to corporate lunches, Made with love by Has has transitioned into a tasty name among the locals. With COVID-19 still lurking around and lockdown periods still being a thing, Made with love by Has still has orders and still grows. When the country transitions out of COVID-19, they will also need to find their footing as no one can predict how the marketplace will have changed by then. We wish Hasanthi and her husband Nuwan, the best of luck!

Made with love by Has - Facebook