From a First Cross Street Tea Shop to Six Continents: Maliban’s Seven-Decade Journey

From a First Cross Street Tea Shop to Six Continents: Maliban’s Seven-Decade Journey

AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of Maliban products or facilities. The original Maliban-branded image can be viewed in the eLanka Facebook post.

A small tea shop on Colombo’s First Cross Street was the starting point for a Sri Lankan business story that now reaches six continents. Maliban Biscuit Manufactories (Private) Limited traces its beginnings to entrepreneur Angulugaha Gamage Hinnyappuhamy and a modest venture that grew, over time, into one of the country’s best-known food manufacturers.

For many Sri Lankans, Maliban biscuits are part of everyday life: familiar at tea time, in a lunchbox or shared with visitors. For people living abroad, the brand can also bring a taste of home to mind. Its journey from a Colombo tea kiosk to an international exporter is a notable chapter in Sri Lanka business history.

This feature draws on Maliban’s own published history, as shared in an eLanka post. It is a business-heritage story, not an advertisement.

From a First Cross Street tea shop to the Maliban Hotel

According to Maliban’s heritage account, the company’s story began in the early twentieth century, when Hinnyappuhamy opened a tea kiosk on First Cross Street in Colombo.

The business developed, and in 1935 he established the Maliban Hotel at 62 Maliban Street in Pettah. His brothers, A. G. Wickramapala and A. G. Jinadasa, later joined him in managing the growing enterprise. The hotel’s success led Hinnyappuhamy to expand into bakery products, with an artisan bakery in Kotahena.

That transition set the course for the company’s next major step. As demand for its bakery products grew, Maliban moved beyond small-scale production towards a mechanised way of making biscuits.

The 1954 milestone in Sri Lanka’s biscuit industry

In August 1954, Maliban’s first mechanised biscuit-manufacturing facility began operating. The company describes it as the first mechanised biscuit factory in Sri Lanka. A significant milestone in the development of the country’s biscuit industry.

Mechanisation marked a change in scale from artisan baking. It offered a way to produce biscuits in larger quantities as demand increased, while building the foundations for a manufacturing business. The company’s published history says this step followed a period when demand for its bakery products had outgrown supply.

AI-generated food illustration. These are generic, unbranded biscuits, not photographs of Maliban products. The original Maliban-branded image is available in the eLanka source post.

The Ratmalana era and the start of exports

During the 1960s, the company moved its manufacturing operation to a larger site in Ratmalana, south of Colombo. Maliban’s account says a new factory with modern semi-automatic processes was built there, with attention to consistent quality and food safety. The facility was expanded and upgraded over time.

Exports began in the mid-1960s. Maliban’s export page describes its global reach as dating from 1964, placing the start of exporting close to the company’s mechanised production milestone. The move into overseas markets connected a growing Sri Lankan manufacturer with consumers beyond the island.

The company’s growth reflects a wider story of Sri Lankan food brands building manufacturing capacity and developing export markets. Maliban’s own account emphasises the role of production, consistency and quality in that journey.

AI-generated illustration of a generic food-production line. It does not depict Maliban’s factory or equipment. The original Maliban-branded image can be viewed in the eLanka Facebook post.

Biscuits generations recognise

Today, the Maliban name covers biscuits and other food products, including crackers, cookies, wafers and chocolate. Among the familiar products named in the eLanka post are Cream Crackers, Lemon Puff, Gold Marie, Milk Short Cake and Gem.

These products are part of the wider story of Sri Lanka biscuits: foods that can be both everyday staples and markers of memory. A packet shared over tea or brought out for guests may be a small detail, but familiar flavours often connect generations and places.

For Sri Lankans who have moved overseas, food brands from home can carry a particular significance. A recognisable name or taste may recall family routines, school days or gatherings around the table. That connection is one reason the story of a Sri Lankan manufacturer can resonate well beyond the island.

Maliban at a glance

The figures in the final row are reported by Maliban on its company information page. They describe the company’s present-day scale, not its output or reach at the time the factory opened.

AI-generated export illustration, not a photograph of Maliban shipments or export packaging. The original Maliban-branded image appears in the eLanka source post.

A Sri Lankan brand with a global reach

Maliban says it produces around 25 million biscuit packs each month and distributes products through more than 100,000 retail outlets in Sri Lanka. Its published figures also place its export reach at more than 42 countries across six continents.

Those figures offer a sense of the scale reached by a business that began with a tea kiosk. They also help explain why Maliban is part of conversations about Sri Lankan exports and the country’s food-manufacturing sector.

For diaspora readers in London, Toronto, Melbourne, Dubai and elsewhere, the story may prompt memories of familiar products and the tea tables where they were shared. The company’s export reach signals how far the brand travels; the particular products available can vary by market.

A business story built over generations

From First Cross Street to Pettah, from an artisan bakery in Kotahena to mechanised production and a larger Ratmalana factory, Maliban’s history spans more than seven decades of manufacturing and change. The company’s account presents its development as a steady progression, from a small family business to a Sri Lankan brand with an established place in domestic markets and a presence overseas.

Its story is also a reminder that global Sri Lankan brands are built over time. A familiar name on a biscuit packet has behind it a longer history of entrepreneurship, changing production methods and export growth.

This feature is a business-heritage story based on the company’s own published history; it is not an advertisement. For more Sri Lankan community and heritage coverage, visit eLanka’s articles section.

Sources: Maliban’s heritage page, company information, and export information. This feature is based on the company’s published history as shared in the original eLanka Facebook post.

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