Nine years ago, charismatic Sri Lankan migrant Shanaka Fernando dropped
out of law school to open ‘Lentil As Anything’, a crazy little
restaurant in Melbourne where there are no prices, no cash registers,
and no rules – but where you can always get a great vegetarian meal
even if you can’t pay a cent. Today Shanaka runs a string of busy
pay-as-u-feel venues staffed by 100 migrants from all around the world,
who rely on the organization for work, training, accommodation, driving
lessons and a vital social network. Shanaka even won the Australian of
The Year Local Hero award in 2007. But while he may be a visionary,
he’s no business manager, and his quixotic creation has racked up a
huge debt that’s threatening to sink the whole organization and pull
everyone down with it. Now the question is – can a place that relies
solely on human generosity survive in this world; or will it be torn
apart by competing egos, chronic chaos and crippling debt?
Next On
Episode 3 : Back to the funda-lentils
Lentil as Anything, the dream of Sri-Lankan migrant Shanaka Fernando, is in freefall. His chain of pay-as-u-feel restaurants owe a whopping ...
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