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The company which opened its flagship QSR (Quick Serving Restaurant) at No. 536, Havelock Road, Colombo 6, hopes to make greater strides through out-of-the-box culinary initiatives in the near future.
With 16.4% of the urban population and close to 9% in the rural areas suffering from diabetes whilst around 219,000 heart patients are admitted to hospitals every year with some form of heart disease and nearly 20% of Sri Lanka’s population being prone to high blood pressure, according to recent statistics; the need for healthy foods has become more vital than ever before.
Sri Lankan range
“Although there are several places serving subs in the country, we wanted to introduce a truly Sri Lankan range which will be on par with global standards. We will position our products made using local flavours and ingredients as a uniquely Sri Lankan brand,” he added.
Peiris noted that Sri Lanka’s food and beverage industry was among the fastest growing sectors in the country and has the potential to grow even further in the short to medium term. Following the conclusion of the civil war, this industry grew by 6.8 % in 2010, comfortably reaching close to 8.5% in 2011. Moreover, it has become a formidable industry, with the sector’s contribution surpassing 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in year 2011.
“With the food industry booming, many restaurants are mushrooming but our goal would be to provide only the very best healthy food to our customers. We will do so by providing nutritional information setting out the value breakdown of calories, carbohydrates, proteins and other nutrients in the food we serve, so our consumers know how much his or her calorie and nutritional intake is. This is the first time in Sri Lanka where customers have the opportunity to know how much they are really consuming,”
In 2011, the food and beverage sector dominated the global retail industry and the food sector was the key driver in international retail business 
which stood at $ 14,335 billion or close to Rs. 1,792 trillion. More importantly, growth in recent years is led by Asia and the Pacific with emerging markets like Sri Lanka experiencing phenomenal growth due to rapid modernisation and expansion.
A passion for Sri Lanka
With his family background deeply-rooted in Sri Lanka’s one-time lucrative tea industry, Peiris has a deep passion for the country’s golden drink – Ceylon Tea.
“My grandfather was a planter and we are the third generation in the tea industry now. I always dreamt of doing something innovative and creative. Our whole idea is to promote tea along with healthy foods in the very near future,” he added.
Equipped with a Degree in Robotics Engineering from the University of Bristol, 24-year old Peiris returned to Sri Lanka in 2012 as he “always believed in his motherland”.
“Since we invested a lot in educating ourselves abroad I always wanted to return to Sri Lanka and do something good for our country more importantly for our youth. In fact my brother Ruwindu, who is a partner in Crusty’s and is studying in the United Kingdom at present, too wants to come back to Sri Lanka.
“I always believe in building our young generation especially Sri Lanka’s under-privileged rural young folk giving them hope and optimism to 
contribute positively towards our economy,” said a confident Peiris.
Diverse menu
Crusty’s is open for with its unique dinner and lunch range from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. whilst its Pastry Shop is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“Our subs are themed differently and may have 15 to 20 fillings which are healthy. The customer has the opportunity to select salads of his or her choice.
“We are very stringent on maintaining quality and consistency, as we benchmark ourselves on par with international standards. We are very concerned about our service quality and customer service as nowadays consumers are well-educated and very knowledgeable and always look for quality and consistency,” he said.
The customer has the opportunity to select his or her own bread out of a diverse range including healthy farmers, golden crust, crusty oats, herbs and cheese, roasted garlic, Bavarian, and tropical country (kurakkan) along with various salads from tuna to green salads, shrimp to classic Caesar.
Crusty’s also offers mains such as fish and chips and soups from chicken noodles to exotic wild mushrooms. Side dishes from tasty chicken cheese to tuna niblets to onion rings and chips are also available.
Serving Sri Lanka’s most diverse sub range, Crusty’s offers sub favourites from tuna to roasted or grilled chicken or chicken teriyaki to egg and cheese. Sandwich wraps made from tandoori chicken, tuna, veggie delight chicken Caesar are available with the traditional sandwiches range which includes club sandwiches, tomato, cheese melt, chicken Caesar and shrimps.
For the discerning vegetarians- veggie sub ranges from paneer to aloo masala are on the menu, whilst Crusty’s offers desserts from juicy cheese cakes to scrumptious apple pies to delightful shakes and home-made ice cream which comes sugar free for the health-conscious customer. For more information visit www.facebook.com/crustysfood or call the hotline - 011 2 366645.
