K. Damodharasamy Naidu Doyen of Tamilnadu hospitality industry

K. Damodharasamy Naidu (1926 - 21 November 2006) was freedom fighter and founder and chairman of the Sree Annapoorna Sree Gowrishankar Group born in Peedampalli village near Coimbatore.

The Annapoorna chain was started in the early 1960s by K. Dhamodarasamy Naidu as a catering unit in Kennedy movie theater in R. S. Puram, Coimbatore. Later a coffee house was set up and run by Naidu and his three brothers K. Rangaswamy Naidu, K. Ramaswamy Naidu and K. Lakshmanan. It offered coffee, tea and tiffin items. In 1968, they opened a vegetarian restaurant under the name "Sree Annapoorna". The business grew as more restaurants were opened in many locations in Coimbatore. In 1980, a lodging hotel was opened. Currently the Annapoorna group has more than 16 restaurants in Coimbatore and in other cities of Tamil Nadu. It also operates other businesses like kitchen equipment manufacturing, construction, instant food mix production and bottling beverages.

He entered the food business with a canteen that sold keerai vadai at the Central theatre (it is said that people visited the theatre just to eat the vadai) and moved on to a shack in R. S. Puram, where he served idlis with chutney, sambar and ghee. Joining him were his brothers and head cook Achuthan Pillai, whose eyes still well up when he thinks of his late boss, who made the sambar-vada almosticonic. Till he was 70, Dhamodarasamy used to cycle to the R S Puram branch at 4 a.m. Then, he would drive down to the hotel in his favorite black ambassador, MDA 4678. A habit he followed until two days before his death. The founder of Annapoorna believed in equality. When travelling, his assitant would stay in the same room, share his meals and handle money for him. The habit of feeding others got into him early. And, he stuck to it even when the world around him changed. Even now, five beggars are fed at the Rathna Vinayagar temple before the lunch counter opens. On tours, he would pack an extra meal to hand over to a hungry person. Competitors recall how he used to work for the uplift of the industry; he thought nothing of visiting other hotels and suggesting changes for better profits. Native wisdom and thirst for knowledge saw him through life despite the lack of a structured education.

English was an alien subject. So, he hired two people to read books in English and tell him the gist. And, at age 80, he took Sanskrit tuitions to be able to understand the epics better. A proponent of Siddha medicine, he planted herbs in his Vedapatti farm and gave away bottles of medicine to whoever wanted them. For employees, he was an accessible boss who attended all their weddings. Dhamodarasamy never wore a watch, but he'd be on time for every function. On the technical side, he studied foreign technology and reworked it to suit Indian conditions. He redesigned a German potato peeler, came up with a large-scale idli cooker and introduced steam cooking in his hotels.

Currently the Annapoorna group has more than 16 restaurants in Coimbatore and in other cities of Tamil Nadu. It also operates other businesses like kitchen equipment manufacturing, construction, instant food mix production and bottling beverages

Currently Annapoorna Group of Hotels has 3,000 employees.

Damodharasamy Naidu had taken part in the Quit India movement.

He was president of the Tamil Nadu Hotels Association and headed the Coimbatore District Hotels Association for nearly 35 years.

He was executive committee member of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, representing the Coimbatore District Hotels Association.

The Avinashilingam University had conferred a doctorate on him.

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