by Namini Wijedasa
Old Charles Perera fashioned a business without a copper to his name. But his heirs have had the tougher task – holding it together without treading on each other’s toes.

"It’s not that we don’t disagree," smiled Rukmini Kodagoda, the third-generation chairperson of Perera and Sons Bakers. "We just ensure that it doesn’t get serious."

That recipe has been a winner. Around them, family companies have crumbled as siblings squabbled and wrangled; petty feuds have undermined performance and differences have stifled growth.

But last year, Perera and Sons Bakers cheerfully feted a hundred years in operation and are now bigger than ever: Sixty-eight outlets, four main bakeries and hundreds of loyalists hooked on pure, P&S magic.

Rukmini is the second daughter of Albert Perera, Charles’ son who eighty-three years ago paid two thousand rupees in honest, hard-earned cash for his father’s modest bakery. The enterprise expanded in numerous ways during his tenure. It acquired the country’s first electric bread oven and later fine-tuned home delivery through the use of tricycles. Albert was also the first to start bakery night-shifts in order to produce fresher bread for morning customers.

Behind Albert, lending unflagging support, were his wife Margaret and five children — Sunitha, Rukmini, Srima, Shantani and Sarath. Incidentally, Albert’s offspring took the name Kodagoda (the Galle village from which Charles Perera hailed). The four sisters are today in the board of directors. Sarath Kodagoda died in 1997 after having served both as managing director and chairman.

There have certainly been a few raised voices over the years, Rukmini recounted frankly, while sipping orange juice at the Royal Colombo Golf Club. For instance, sampling and pricing meetings have sometimes led to hot disputes over ingredient measurements or costing.

"We are all blessed with loud voices," Rukmini grinned. "So, you could hear some high notes at those meetings! People would argue over the price of breudher or whether something had too much or too little pepper."

"But this was because everyone had the same passion and deep concern for maintaining the highest quality."

There have also been more serious arguments. For five years in the 1960s, the family management of Perera and Sons Bakers experienced a deep schism due to disagreement between Albert Perera and his brothers, Richard and Gilbert. Each party felt the business should be run differently. The others rallied around, anxious to save the enterprise and to mend precious family relations. Their endeavours were successful. Moreover, a valuable lesson had been learned.

"The manner in which that dispute was resolved spoke volumes to us, the third generation," Rukmini said. "We made a conscious decision very early on. When arguments happen, someone always clear the air. We discuss issues openly and tackle differences." The formula has worked.

According to a survey by the Kellogg’s School of Business Studies, only 14 per cent of family companies survive for 50 years while just three per cent grow during those years. Perera and Sons Bakers, a truly Sri Lankan firm, can boast both achievements.

Shantani’s son, Gihan Perera, is today fourth-generation managing director. The older rank have stepped back, leaving management in his hands. Although they take part in crucial meetings and contribute input when necessary, they are not involved in daily operations.

Gihan, who is already hatching plans to ensure that P&S endures for the next one hundred years, explained that his surname had no connection with the original Perera. "My mother married a Perera!" he laughed.

"She had sworn not to marry a Perera," Rukmini inserted, good-naturedly. "Such a common name! I asked her`85 for goodness sakes, do you have to marry a Perera?"

"I call it the most popular name," Gihan re-defined, adding that all P&S children have had to tolerate nicknames in school – mostly "Pan Perera" or "Pus Pan"! But they have also had the satisfaction of knowing that many of their chums stopped regularly at Perera and Sons on the way to school.

Gihan had always wanted to be deeply involved in the company his great-grandfather founded. Although he had the option of studying abroad after his advanced level examinations, he chose to read for his MBA at Sri Jayewardenepura University.

"I thought it better to study while working in the company, instead of taking two years off to study abroad," he explained. "Getting my MBA at Sri Jayewardenepura helped me understand the local situation better."

Gihan did subsequently study finance in the United States, a move which assisted him enormously in making crucial decisions and analysing his business.

In 1996, Gihan helped increase P&S profits in leaps and bounds by mooting a franchise scheme. Under the proposal, an individual could receive approval from the company to sell its products at outlets operated by the former. P&S provides all bread, pastries and confectionery items while the operator is offered a percentage of the sales.

Gihan also improved performance by hiring professionals from outside the family. "We looked outside the family circle for professional input," Rukmini explained. "And those of us who were not skilled or professionally qualified necessarily took a back seat."

Although Gihan spends considerable time at the workplace, he admits that he is not head of any particularly department. His job, instead, is to direct the company, look after family values and protect the interests of the organization and stakeholders.

"His current role gives him more time to dream dreams for the company," Rukmini said, affectionately.

Gihan has certainly dreamed dreams. Having increased the number of bakeries and outlets in Sri Lanka, he hopes now to open P&S branches abroad.

Unlike Gihan, other members of the fourth generation are little engaged in P&S management or operation. The remaining six offspring are all employed in diverse fields, including computer engineering and architecture.

"With their levels of education `85 it was more lucrative for them to pursue other fields of interest," explained Gihan. "They find their chosen careers challenging and invigorating."

So has family involvement reduced? "In numbers only," Gihan said. "The feeling is still there."

It was different, however, when Rukmini was a child. Back then, it was natural for all the children to be part of a grand P&S effort. Even before she started working formally in the firm, Rukmini remembers licking stamps, making bread bills, adding bread books and folding invoices. She subsequently dedicated a good 40 years of her life to Perera and Sons. Each of her siblings has devoted equal time.

"There was total involvement," she recalled. "Perera and Sons was our life and we all happily slipped into working for the company."

Perhaps as a fallout of this phenomenon, the third generation made sure their children had freedom of choice.

"Nobody encouraged their kids to choose this as a natural walking," Rukmini stressed. "Neither did we push them. I think it was a deep reaction to what we had experienced."

Today, Gihan – and the others – raises his children in a similar fashion.

"You have to build your mindset," he explained, "that your children may not take over one day. You can’t die over it`85 if they refuse."

Rukmini can remember many good times. In the old days, she and her siblings would work together in one big office. They would discuss family ailments or the latest attack of flu. They would attend funerals and "make the appropriate noises". And they would sample the wares – an integral part of the job.

"That’s how we all got fat," Rukmini grinned. "There’s is nothing so irresistible as pastries fresh from the oven... that smell. It’s a terrible temptation."

Rukmini and her siblings have weathered difficult times together. There have been strikes, there have been economic crunches. But Perera and Sons has evolved. Today, they have struck the right balance between employer and employee. Labour relations are strong and the family cannot praise the workforce enough.

"They’re good to us and we’re good to them," Rukmini said.

One thing has not changed: The paternalistic attitude Charles Perera was known for endures to this date. The definition of paternalistic? "Affection with a firm hand."

"My father’s generation had it," Rukmini elaborated. "Even now we have a paternalistic attitude. I don’t think we can change it. It’s in us."

"We are like the potter’s hands," she continued. "One hand guides the pot, the other pats."

Having such an outlook also means occasional reprimands and discipline. It comes from being a family business, Rukmini explained, pointing out that Perera and sons is essentially the product of family effort.

The dream began with one man, but it ultimately boiled down to family.

"I can’t even recall his face or figure `85 but the tremendous energy Charles Perera had in him infected the whole immediate family group and carried on in successive generations," Rukmini said. "What we have today is tremendous energy. Our energy and our workforce have made Perera and Sons a success."