The Hindu                04.06.2013  

Low-cost idlis sell like hot cakes

A day after their formal inauguration, 90 outlets of ‘Amma Unavagam’ in nine cities of the State sold over one lakh idlis on Monday.

Of the nine cities, Tuticorin witnessed the maximum sale of 15,990 idlies followed by Vellore 14,809, according to a senior official here. The total number of idlis sold was around 1.07 lakh.

On Sunday afternoon, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa inaugurated the 90 outlets of the low-cost canteens through video-conferencing in Chennai.

The outlets were also opened Tiruchi, Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem, Tirupur, Erode and Tirunelveli.

In the nine cities, Monday marked the full cycle of sale of sambar rice and curd rice, apart from idli. While idli is being sold at Re. 1 a piece, each plate of sambar rice is priced at Rs. 5 and curd rice at Rs. 3. As many as 30,325 plates of sambar rice and 19,640 plates of curd rice were sold. In all the cities put together, the revenue earned during the day was approximately Rs. 3.27 lakh. The response was “overwhelming” everywhere as the food items were sold in one to two hours, the official adds.