Chennai: When one walks along Montieth Road at Egmore, in the city, the sight of youngsters gobbling down plates of sandwiches, is hard to miss.
The ‘anna’ who is in-charge of the small shop, wipes up the pan with onion, drizzles it up with butter and applies a coat of oil.
He then proceeds to whisk eggs, onions, masala, corn and later adds two bread slices to it. Even as he flips it over, he is surrounded by a hungry group who watch his actions in rapt attention.
This ‘sandwich shop’ that is right next to a popular mall here has grown to become a brand over the years.
A popular hangout for college students and office-goers, Sugumar who runs the stall makes about 150-200 sandwiches throughout the day.
“Earlier I used to conduct business at Royapettah, but I later shifted here. Although there are a couple of other shops around, I am glad that I have a loyal customer base. There are a lot of varieties on offer, apart from the usual vegetable, cheese and paneer sandwiches. My stand-out dish is the Chicken tikka masala sandwich where the masala is prepared at home. I run a one-man show. Although I take upto ten minutes for each order, my customers do not mind waiting,” he says.
Sugumar also points out that the ‘chaat sandwich’ too is his speciality.
“I just came up with the idea on my own. Many girls who come to my shop also try out the chaat outlet inside the mall. So I thought of incorporating it along with the murukku sandwiches. The gamble paid off as the variety is now a fast-selling one. Apart from youngsters, mothers too bring in their children to try out the cheese and Nutella sandwiches,” he adds.
As of now, Sugumar says he just has two wishes- to satisfy his customers taste buds and to make his children study well and support their dreams.