After more than five years selling barbecue from a roadside stall in Lautoka, Prinal Priya Devi and Nalini Ranjani Prasad open their first brick-and-mortar eatery today — Everyday Eats restaurant — along Nakasi Road, marking a dramatic turn in a business born from necessity and sustained by community support.
The pair trace their start not to a commercial kitchen but to work as delivery drivers for Fiji Eats. “We started off as drivers for Fiji Eats and while doing deliveries, our car got burnt out,” Ms Devi told this newspaper. With limited options, they began selling kumquat juice and hot dogs from the roadside. Ms Devi said she started mixing her own sauce recipes, which gradually led them into barbecuing and building a following over the next five years.
Their rise was anything but smooth. The couple ran late-night stalls and took part in local markets — including GoldFM RocMarket and Garden City markets — often working until 4am and handling every task themselves. “Jass Prasad, my partner, and I often felt like giving up. We were exhausted every night just trying to make a living,” Ms Devi said. The duo regularly commuted from Tavua to Lautoka each evening, leaving at 4pm, returning at about 5am and arriving home by 7am after a night of selling.
The business suffered a major blow last Christmas when they were robbed at a Lautoka accommodation and lost all their savings. “We thought that was the last straw and we wanted to give up,” Ms Devi recalled. What followed turned out to be pivotal: strangers who became friends raised funds to help them buy a new barbecue set and restart. “Their kindness during such a painful time inspired us to keep going. We worked hard, grew from that small beginning, and now we can hardly believe that we own a restaurant,” she said.
Everyday Eats will build on the menu that made them known on the roadside, with Ms Devi saying the new venue will allow them to expand offerings to include new dishes, desserts and a range of fresh, local fruit juices. The restaurant’s name underlines their intention to serve approachable, everyday meals while scaling up from a mobile operation to a permanent space.
For Ms Devi and Ms Prasad the restaurant is more than a commercial achievement — it is a testament to perseverance and faith. “For this restaurant, it’s a blessing, with God being with us every step of the way,” Ms Devi said, adding that their goal is “to be the best at what we do.” As they open their doors today on Nakasi Road, their move from roadside stall to storefront highlights both the precariousness of small-scale entrepreneurship and the role community support can play in helping vendors turn setbacks into new starts.
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