Dhamodarasamy Naidu initially set up catering units in Theatre complexes which were small but successful. Eventually a coffee house, under the name of “Sree Anapoorna” jointly run by brothers Shri. Ramaswamy Naidu and K.Lakshmanan was set up. Pitched on the concept of Indian Coffee Houses back then in early 1960’s , Sree Annapoorna concentrated on a limited menu - Coffee, Tea and Tiffin.
From the mid 1960’s , the “Sree Annapoorna Coffee” and the heritage "sambar - idly - vada" thrived and the success is still celebrated . In 1968, the vision of creating a second outlet under the brand “Sree Gowrishankar” was started. Both the brands “Sree Annapoorna and Sree Gowrishankar” became famous for high quality pure vegetarian food. Back then, from just a contemporary Coffee House , Sree Annapoorna is now a “Group of Hotel” with over 13 restaurants all over the city. Fifty years and still living the dream of our founder of serving quality food rich in tradition and heritage, we strive to live upto it. HISTORY OF SREE ANNAPOORNA GROUP
Dr.K.Damodharaswamy Naidu a person of extraordinary cleverness immigrated from the nearby village in 1960 to Coimbatore city, which is known as the Manchester of South India, having salubrious climatic conditions, with pure kongu tamil culture and housing huge textile mills and a number of small scale engineering industries. With an idea of starting a small business he commenced a canteen in the Kennedy Theatre premises in R.S.Puram for supplying snacks and coffee or tea during the intermission to the onlookers of movie therein. His dedication, untiring work and sincerity in the area of business, inspired him and he along with his three affectionate brothers took the contract of running a canteen in the central theatre, one of the best theatres on those days. The special Kerai Vadai and tasteful coffee supplied by the canteen attracted more number of people to enjoy the snacks and coffee rather than viewing the movie in the theatre. In 1968 they started a restaurant called Sree Annapoorna for the supply of pure vegetarian food with the co-operation and patronage of the general public. It will not be an exaggeration to mention that the blessings of the goddess Sri Annapoorni, in the commencement of a new vegetarian hotel for the supply of good food paved way to further accelerate their hotel industry business. After this they commenced a vegetarian restaurant in the name of Sree Gowrishankar at Gandhipuram, the present heart of the city. Step by step they started two more restaurants in 1974 and another two more branches in 1984-85 at the important centers within the city, apart from a central kitchen at Mettupalayam road for the preparation of food items by the specialists in the line to enable them to distribute quality food stuff for the best satisfaction of our customers. In the meanwhile a three star hotel with lodging facilities was started and being run by them efficiently and hygienically from 1983 onwards for the benefit of visiting general public and tourists to comfortably stay and enjoy their visit. Consequent to the expertise gained by Dr.K.Damodharaswamy Naidu in the intricacies of food production and utilities required they started for the fabrication of various types of kitchen equipment’s etc. Apart from meeting their own requirements they have also undertaken the fabrication and supply of stainless steel equipments and utensils for the use in the Thirumala and Tirupathi devasthanam kitchens, which is famous for the shrine of Lord Vekateshwara and stands number two in income among the temples in the world at large. Sree Annapoorna Kitchen Equipments has also done number of huge orders of kitchen equipments for Southern railways. To commemorate the golden jubilee year of Indian Independence and to extend their continued service to the people, they opened yet another branch, fully air conditioned, in a central place exhibiting therein the wall mounted photo placards of those martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the independence which attracts a number of customers. Sree Annapoorna group is also into the manufacturing of spices and ready to eat food mixes under the brand name Sree Annapoorna Foods. Today they export to Australia, United States of America, United Kingdom and Middle Eastern countries. It may not be out of place to mention that Dr.K.Damodharaswamy Naidu, the chairman of this group and the Chairman of Tamil Nadu Hotel Association is not a self centered leader, by the very fact that he himself had declared open many other hotels throughout Tamil Nadu, without any reservation whatsoever. HIGHLIGHTS OF SREE ANNAPOORNA GROUP
• Employee strength of 1500 members.
• Sree Annapoorna were the first to introduce centralised cooking concept using steam for south Indian food from the year 1980.
• Produces 12 tonnes of sambar daily.
• 50,000 cups of coffee is sold daily in the 13 branches.
• 6 tonnes of coffee powder per month is manufactured.
• 20 million customers are served during a year in the hotel business alone.
• 15,000 litres of milk is procured daily.
• Annapoorna outdoor catering has served 15000 cups of coffee at a time. VARIED BUSINESSES OF SREE ANNAPOORNA GROUP
1. Sree Annapoorna Sree Gowrishankar Hotels – Into restaurant business from the year 1968 and into hotel industry from the year 1983.
2. Sree Annapoorna Kitchen Equipments – Into manufacturing of stainless steel kitchen equipments and machines needed for the food industry.
3. Sree Annapoorna Gowrishankar Estate and Constructions – Into construction business and real estate activities.
4. Sree Annapoorna Foods – Into manufacturing of masala food powders and instant food mixes.
5. Poornam Beverages – Ex Co packers and bottler for Hindustan Coco Cola.
