SUREN MIRCHANDANI: FAREWELL TO ONE OF COLOMBO’S FINEST
BY: RISHINI WEERARATNE
Intelligent, impeccably dressed, entrepreneurial and effortlessly charming, Suren Mirchandani was one of those rare personalities who became part of the fabric of Colombo itself.
There are some people who simply belong to a city. They become part of its character, its conversations, its parties, its restaurants and, eventually, its memories. For a generation of Colombo society, Suren Ramchand Mirchandani was one of those people. He was one of Colombo’s original “it boys” - handsome, intelligent, sophisticated and always impeccably dressed. Suren had presence. He could walk into a room and be noticed without ever appearing to seek attention. Year after year, he was a familiar name on both our annual HI!! and Daily Mirror Best Dressed Lists. And deservedly so. For Suren, being well dressed never seemed contrived. Style came naturally to him. He understood that elegance was not about extravagance, but about knowing yourself; the right jacket, the right shirt, the right watch, and that unmistakable confidence with which he carried it all. The clothes never wore Suren. Suren wore the clothes. But reducing Suren Mirchandani to style and good looks would miss the man entirely. Behind that polished exterior was an exceptionally curious and intelligent mind. He was smart, intellectual and entrepreneurial. He enjoyed ideas. He understood business, but he was equally interested in people, culture, travel, food, hospitality, aviation and the wider world. A conversation with Suren could move effortlessly from business to aviation, from an idea for Colombo to something he had encountered overseas. He was interested in what came next. And quite often, he was ahead of it.
FROM BOSTON TO COLOMBO
Suren’s outlook was international from an early age. He studied at Boston University in the United States, an experience that complemented the cosmopolitan outlook he would bring to his life and businesses in Sri Lanka. On returning home, Suren became closely involved with the Favourite Group, his family’s diversified business enterprise, and went on to hold a number of directorial and leadership positions across its businesses. But Suren was never content simply to be identified with an established family business. He was an entrepreneur in his own right. Throughout his career, he continually explored new ideas and new sectors. His interests would span aviation, property, hospitality, food and beverage, distribution, retail, technology-driven delivery and luxury lifestyle services. He served as a Director of Favourite Group and as a Director of Favourite International, while his aviation career would see him serve as Managing Director of Deccan Aviation Lanka and later Vice Chairman of Millennium Airlines / Simplifly. His business interests were varied, but there was a common thread running through them all; Suren had an instinct for recognising how people’s lifestyles were changing. He saw possibilities. And he liked turning those possibilities into businesses.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Among the ventures with which Suren’s name became synonymous were Park Street Gourmet, Wine.lk and ZipSip. Today, Colombo’s restaurant and gourmet-food culture is sophisticated and diverse. But Suren recognised the possibilities of that world early. He understood that Colombo was changing. Sri Lankans were travelling more. Their tastes were becoming increasingly international. People wanted quality and convenience, but they also wanted experience. Suren saw an opportunity to bring those worlds together. Through Favourite International and its related ventures, he became involved in the importation and distribution of wines, beverages and speciality products, while Wine.lk took the business into online retail and ZipSip embraced app-based delivery. Suren understood, long before it became commonplace, that Colombo consumers would increasingly expect good products to come to them rather than always having to go in search of those products. And then came Park Street Gourmet.
PARK STREET GOURMET
Park Street Gourmet was perhaps one of the ventures that most clearly reflected Suren himself. Cosmopolitan. Discerning. Contemporary. Stylish, but with substance. Suren recognised what he once described as a “gastronomic revolution” taking place in Sri Lanka. He wanted Park Street Gourmet to be more than another supermarket. It brought together speciality foods, carefully selected wines and beverages, international products and locally produced artisanal goods. Just as importantly, Suren wanted to create a platform for smaller Sri Lankan producers who were making interesting, high-quality products. He also wanted to change the experience of grocery shopping. For Suren, shopping for food did not need to mean harsh lighting, endless aisles and an impersonal supermarket experience. It could be intimate, pleasurable and beautifully curated. Park Street Gourmet embodied that philosophy. It reflected the way Suren approached so many things in life; take something familiar, look at it differently and make the experience better.
QUINTESSENTIALLY SRI LANKA
Suren was also one of the co-founders of Quintessentially Sri Lanka, together with his business partner Niro Cooke, bringing the international luxury lifestyle and concierge concept to Sri Lanka. It was another venture that suited Suren perfectly. He understood hospitality. He understood luxury. But, more importantly, he understood that genuine luxury was not simply about expensive things. It was about service, relationships, access, discretion and knowing how to make things happen. Suren knew Colombo. He knew people. He understood international travellers and international expectations. In many ways, Quintessentially brought those qualities together.
A PIONEER IN THE SKIES
Then there was aviation. It was perhaps the boldest chapter of Suren’s entrepreneurial life. Suren played an important role in the development of Sri Lanka’s private domestic aviation industry at a time when the sector was still in its infancy. As early as 2003, he was serving as Managing Director of Deccan Aviation (Lanka) as the company sought approval to establish aviation operations in Sri Lanka. In 2004, Suren joined forces with celebrated Indian aviation entrepreneur Captain G. R. Gopinath to establish the Sri Lankan Deccan Aviation venture. It was bold territory.
At a time when travelling between Colombo and many parts of the island meant spending hours on the road, Suren understood the potential for helicopters and small aircraft to transform domestic travel and tourism. A journey that might take six or seven hours by road could suddenly be dramatically shortened. For Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, that represented enormous possibilities. Deccan Aviation Lanka developed helicopter and fixed-wing operations, and the business subsequently evolved through Millennium Airlines and Simplifly. Suren remained closely involved, serving as Vice Chairman of Millennium Airlines / Simplifly and becoming one of the personalities most closely associated with the development of private domestic aviation in the country. The operation expanded across helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, amphibious aircraft and aviation training. Suren also supported efforts to bring helicopter operations closer to the heart of Colombo rather than requiring passengers to travel out of the city before beginning their journeys. Once again, he was asking the same question that appeared throughout his business life, ‘Why can’t we do this differently?’ That willingness to try something difficult said much about Suren. He wasn’t simply interested in businesses that already had a proven formula. He liked ideas. He liked possibilities. And he was prepared to take risks. Not every idea in an entrepreneur’s life succeeds exactly as imagined. That is the nature of entrepreneurship. What distinguished Suren was his willingness to try.
THE MAN BEHIND THE TITLES
Looking back at his professional life, the breadth of it is striking. Director of Favourite Group. Director of Favourite International. Managing Director of Deccan Aviation Lanka. Vice Chairman of Millennium Airlines / Simplifly. Entrepreneur behind Park Street Gourmet, Wine.lk and ZipSip. Co-founder of Quintessentially Sri Lanka. Those titles tell us what Suren did. They do not entirely tell us who he was. Because away from the boardrooms, aircraft, business plans and new ventures, there was another Suren; the Suren so many people in Colombo will remember. One of Colombo’s Original “It Boys” Suren was part of an era. There was a time in Colombo when everybody seemed to know everybody; when the city’s social world revolved around a relatively small collection of restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, parties and familiar faces. Suren was unmistakably one of those faces. He was one of Colombo’s “it boys” before anyone really used the expression. Handsome? Absolutely. Well dressed? Always. Smart? Without question. But there was something far more important beneath all of that. He was kind. And ultimately, that is what matters. The clothes, the parties, the companies, the titles and the photographs eventually become memories. What remains is how somebody treated other people. Suren was a wonderful human being. He could be charming and sophisticated, but he could also be warm and thoughtful. There was an intellectual quality to him that made conversation interesting, coupled with a kindness that made people feel comfortable around him. He belonged to Colombo society without allowing society to become the entirety of who he was. There was substance behind the style.
THE END OF AN ERA
The passing of Suren Mirchandani feels particularly poignant because it is also a reminder of a Colombo that is slowly becoming memory. The city changes. Generations change. The restaurants change. The parties change. And eventually, the familiar faces around the tables change too. But every city has certain people who become inseparable from one’s recollection of a particular time. For many, Suren will always be one of them. The city will remember the handsome young man who seemed perpetually well dressed. The city will remember his name appearing year after year among Colombo’s best dressed. The city will remember the entrepreneur who always seemed to have another idea.
The city will remember Park Street Gourmet. It will remember ZipSip and Wine.lk. It will remember Quintessentially. It will remember the helicopters and the aircraft. It will remember the intellect, the charm, the elegance and the style. But above everything else, the city will remember the man. A kind man. An intelligent man. An intellectual. An entrepreneur. A wonderful human being. And one of those increasingly rare Colombo characters who possessed something that cannot be bought, manufactured or taught; presence. Suren Ramchand Mirchandani was one of Colombo’s finest. He was also one of its originals. And for those who knew him, photographed him, wrote about him, laughed with him and watched his many ideas take shape over the years, Colombo will feel just a little different without him.
