Scrumptiously scrumptious!

Saturday, 13 July 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Rashika Fazali Feeding a passion and having the right business strategies is evident for a successful business. This is what Scrumptious Founder Nilusha de Silva exactly did. Rather than driving that passion empty-handed, she instead did a lot of analysing on making the right desserts. After all, she is a business analyst.

Recently, Nilusha received the finalist award at the Venture Engine 2013 for her business strategy that aims at driving Scrumptious to the top. Her business strategies are simple. She wants to make consistent quality food at affordable prices, but for that she had to do a lot of analysing. She said: “Many food places start off with good quality products, but the quality drops over the months. I haven’t seen any place that has maintained quality. In this trade, people compromise on the quality.” She also noticed that if and when quality drops, the majority of the Sri Lankans would still stick to buying the same food products because of their mindset. This is what she intends to change with her products. Nilusha also tries her best to think like a consumer when it comes to her products. She added: “I always come back as a customer and ask myself, ‘is it worth buying this?’ ‘How much should it cost?’ People think of selling it once. I think of selling it forever. Quality is key.” Her passion for cooking started at the age of 10. However, she couldn’t go to hotel school and instead became an IT graduate, graduating from Informatics Institute of Technology and later on moving into the business field. Currently studying at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), she revealed: “When I joined PIM, they encouraged me to start my own business, especially if I am passionate about something.” One-and-a-half years ago as a skills project, she fulfilled her childhood dream by opening her company, Scrumptious, which delivers yummy and unique brownies. Though brownies are becoming extremely popular in the country, Nilusha tries to deliver different and untapped brownies that you wouldn’t find in an average food place. Her brownie range includes Oreo brownies, cream cheese swirl brownies, dark and white chocolate brownies and peanut butter cookie brownies. She also sells standard desserts such as chocolate mousse and chocolate biscuit pudding which weren’t her greatest strengths. Her brownies are wonderfully scrumptious, especially the cream cheese swirl brownies. The minute you bit into the brownie, you’ll think cheese with gooey chocolate is a weird combination for a brownie, but then after a while it gets to you and you just love them! If you are not much of a cheese fan, then I suggest you try the Oreo brownies – you will find yourself wondering where the Oreos are. They are right at the bottom, so make sure you take the bottom bits because they are indeed the yummy ones. For those who love chocolate in general, the dark and white chocolate brownie is a must have. There are chunky pieces of dark and white chocolate for you to bite into. One big dark and white chocolate brownie will definitely give you a huge sugar rush! I was wondering if it’s possible to have a peanut butter cookie brownie instead of peanut butter on bread. They were another lovely treat, satisfying my sugar cravings. All her brownies are given at a price of Rs. 1,100 per box of six large brownies while her standard desserts come between Rs. 190 and Rs. 250. Scrumptious also delivers their products charging Rs. 250 minimum. However, it also depends on the location to be delivered. Although she doesn’t have an outlet at the moment, she has plans to have either an outlet or a distribution centre in the near future. She also mentioned her plans to sell her brownies at supermarkets similar to how ice creams are sold. Pix by Anusha De Silva