Journey of a woman who has the recipe for success

Patricia Narayan, entrepreneur and restaurateur, knows adversity — she has been up against a failed marriage and drug addict husband and raised two kids on her own — but nothing in her demeanour betrays it. All we see is her infectious smile and confident attitude when we meet her at her house in Velachery. She has not only managed to pursue her passion for cooking with great zest, but also made it her success story, establishing a chain of restaurants and a corporate catering business. 

Going back in time, she says, “I was the eldest in my family and the most adored kid of my parents. We were an upper middle class Christian family. My early life was a bed of roses and I got whatever I desired in life. But it was marriage that changed it all. While studying at Queen Mary’s College, I married a Hindu Brahmin boy I was in love with. This was in 1977 and it caused an uproar in the family. Both families cut off ties with us. And to top it, I soon realised my husband was a drug addict and was not in a condition to take care of himself or me. My heart broke to see that the person I thought would be by my side till death do us part, was addicted to vices and was also abusive.” 

She pauses a little, almost as if she were reliving those difficult days. “I had to look after the house, take care of an inebriated husband and manage finances. There came a point when I realised we had no money to survive and my husband had no intention to earn as well. By this time, I had two kids, no roof on the top of our heads and nowhere to go.”

That is when her father, who although still never forgave her, gave Patricia, her husband and two children refuge at his place. “But I did not want to become an additional burden on my parents. While growing up, I had been passionate about cooking and experimented in the kitchen a lot. Most of these dishes turned out to be really tasty and I was told by many that I had a knack for cooking. Considering my circumstances, I had an option to either fight my battle or give up. I chose the first. So I decided to turn my passion into my livelihood,” she reminisces.

She started out by selling pickles, jams and squashes. From then on, there was no looking back and she set up a kiosk at the Marina beach (near the Gandhi statue), selling juice and cutlets in 1982. Her first-day sales would not count as memorable — she sold one cup of coffee for 50 paise. But undeterred, she was back at the Marina the next day. 

“I had to survive. Slowly and steadily, I started attracting customers. Soon my hands were full. In the daytime, I was taking care of the children, and in the evening, I was selling food at my kiosk. Marina became my MBA school,” she says.

Patricia says that the turning point in her career was in 1984. She got a catering contract for the cafeteria of the Slum Clearance Board, then from the Bank of Madura in 1989, and eventually, from the National Institute of Port Management in 1991. 

“I was cooking food for 600-700 people on a daily basis and it became a huge learning experience for me. Finally, I was earning enough to give my kids a decent life,” she says. In 1998, she forged a partnership with one of the restaurants of a leading hotel chain in Chennai. Life was finally looking up for her, but in 2004 tragedy struck: her newly married daughter and son-in-law’s untimely death. A bereaved Patricia left her business to her son Praveen. “For more than two years I was in shock and depression. I was not in a frame of mind to run a business,” she says. 

But in 2006, the resilient woman came back and set up her first restaurant, named after her daughter Sandheepa. Over the next few years she went on to open quite a few outlets throughout the city, catering to top corporate clientele. Patricia grew from 50 paisa a day to an average of Rs 2 lakh a day. Although a few outlets have had to shut shop over the last decade, she has a booming catering business and her existing outlets are making money. Patricia Narayan was awarded the ‘FICCI Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2010. 

So I ask her, what was that one thing that made her survive against all odds and emerge stronger. She responds without batting an eyelid, “I could either choose to die or live. I chose life.”