From Catering to Chain: How Anbu's Biryani Built a Following

Anbu Shanmugarajah had no restaurant experience when he set up a catering operation from his Scarborough home in 2016. What he had was a family recipe for dum biryani that his customers said reminded them of the biryani stalls of Chennai. His catering clients started posting on social media. The orders came faster than he could cook them.

By 2019 he had leased a commercial kitchen. By 2022 he opened his first restaurant on Sheppard Avenue. Today there are three Anbu's Biryani locations in Scarborough, Brampton, and Mississauga, plus a frozen meal line available online and at Tamil Heritage Grocers. "Biryani is not just food," Anbu says with a grin. "It is architecture. Every grain has to be in its right place."