It was prepared by women at home and a major activity during summer season. The dough was prepared, rolled, dried in peak summer days and stored for the whole year. Over the years, people have slowly stopped making appalams at home with the availability of ready made food varieties and one of the first who popularized buying readymade appalams was Ambika Appalam Depot in Chennai.


This shop was started about 70 years back in Mylapore, Chennai by K A Velayudham.  In 1940, they named the shop Ambika Appalam and since then have created a brand image for themselves. They became a leading brand and also established themselves as a departmental store selling not only appalams but also a variety of podis (podis are mixed with rice and eaten), vathals and all grocery items. They have a chain of stores, 14 of them are in different areas in Chennai and 1 is in Bangalore.

K V Sukumar, son of Velayutham spent time with Chennai Chimes to explain about the operations of Ambika Appalam, “My grandfather Iyappan had a small shop in Triplicane, Chennai and it was my father who moved the venue and started Ambika Appalam in Madal Narayan Street, Mylapore to sell appalams. My mother specialized in making different varieties of podis, vathals and we gained popularity in the early seventies.  My brother Vijayaraghavan and I joined my father after we completed our studies.”

“We are still making appalams manually and though we have tried several methods of mechanizing the process, we find that the taste is not the same. We make different kinds of appalams to make it more interesting and give variety to our customers. We have also been constantly improvising on our podis and introducing new types. We supply appalam and podis to people all over India and we have agents selling appalams and podis for us around the globe. Ambika Appalam has reached even the remotest corner of the world.”

“Now our entire family is involved in this business, including our next generation. Some family members take care of the background work and others front end the operations.” He smiled and added, “My father named the shop after Goddess Ambika and with Her Grace we are doing very well. Subsequently when my sister was born, she was named after the shop; usually it is done the other way around.”

Sukumar explained that they were facing a lot of challenges as the work was highly labour oriented. They have several suppliers but they have always maintained high standards and assured quality as the work is fully done under their supervision and the raw ingredients are supplied by them. They are also dependant on sunlight because sufficient sunlight is required to dry their products. Inspite of all these challenges, Ambika Appalam is spreading out with more stores in different locations and more of their products are reaching people who are eager to savour the taste of hand made appalam and the typical South Indian taste of podis and vathals.

For Chennaites around the world, appalams are almost synonymous with Ambika Appalam as they carry the flavour and aroma of home and give the completeness of a whole some meal, the feel of home away from home.

Contact Details
Phone +91 44 2461 2792
Email kannan4111@yahoo.co.in

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