The name “Mattai” has long signified Indian spices in Guyana. In any culture, the food is the most persistent trait that survives: but it can only do so if the ingredients are made available. Mattai was one of those that identified this need and had the entrepreneurial drive to take the risk to become directly involved in importing the spices that distinguished Indian cuisine and also just as important, move to the Stabroek Market, which was the bazaar of Guyana.
The beginning: sugar and rice
Founded by Nuckshed Liliah Mattai and Shamdayee Mattai, N&S Mattai started from very humble beginnings. Nuckshed’s parents arrived in Guyana from India as
N&S Mattai original sign, which still hangs inside the store on 4A Water & Hope Streets
indentured labourers. Starting out at the Uitvlugt Estate on the West Coast of Demerara, the family eventually moved to Hague Backdam where they started a rice mill to service the rice farmers who had bought plots of land on the ex-sugar estate. The father would have plugged all his hard-earned savings into this venture.
Nuckshed worked with the family business for years until the passing of his parents. This was one of the foundations of Indian entrepreneurship: the entire family supplied their labour to the enterprise. N&S Mattai and Company was formed in 1949 with the opening of a stall in Stabroek Market. This was a bold and risky move, but the young couple appreciated that the greater number of shoppers meant greater opportunities. The risk was taken. Nuckshed and Shamdayee worked tirelessly to supply the public with basic groceries. This hard work paid off as the business steadily grew and the Mattai family moved from owning one stall at the market to owning seven.
In the early 1960s, Nuckshed was able to achieve his dream of owning a business
Nuckshed Liliah Mattai and Shamdayee Mattai
in Water Street – the epitome of the Guyanese business community. He purchased the building and land at 4A Water & Hope Streets, where N&S Mattai and Company still exists today. But the couple still remained rooted in the market for a number of years. Nuckshed often managed the seven stalls in Stabroek Market while Shamdayee managed the business in Water Street.
Upheaval and migration
Shamdayee and Nuckshed, along with many Guyanese, faced incredible difficulty in the 1970s and 1980s, when most basic food items became banned. The business was hit especially hard since unavailability of these goods undermined the company’s survival and their family’s livelihood. The couple made the decision to move with their children to Canada.
Continuing the inculcated commercial drive for success, the family ran a small convenience store in Mississauga for approximately five years, which culminated in the opening of a supermarket in the heart of Toronto. During this time, the family also managed to run N&S Mattai & Company in Guyana, since the sons stayed in Guyana for months at a time with their families to run the store via a shift-like system. Nuckshed and Shamdayee regularly travelled to Guyana to oversee the business and to ensure that the company’s reputation in quality and service continued.
The return
Shortly after Nuckshed’s passing in 1994, Nuckshed and Shamdayee’s third son, Harry, returned to Guyana with his wife Bharati and their three children to run the business full time.
After Harry returned to Guyana, he was able to demolish the existing building in Water Street and construct a new building. Over the years, additional stories have been added to create the extensive building that sits on Water & Hope Streets, and today, Harry and Bharati are proud to add to the burgeoning success of the family business with the introduction of what currently stands as the largest supermarket in Guyana: Mattai’s – The Food Market, at 13-15A Water and Hope Streets, Georgetown.
Mattai’s, The Food Market, aptly named as a callback to its roots in Stabroek Market, was conceived as a means of expansion to accommodate Guyana’s diversified dietary needs and desires, offering hundreds of products from around the world, while still preserving its core specialty of spices, dhalls and masalas.
N&S Mattai was the first company in Guyana to import Indian foods, spices, pickles, seasonings and snacks, catering to the growing Indian national community, as well as the wider Guyanese population, and Mattai’s continues to lead the market in this area today. In fact, on entering the new establishment, customers are met with the ‘Spice Market’, designed to resemble a time old market ‘souk’, brought to life by the aroma of various spices displayed against wooden shelves and jute bags. It is these touches that reaffirm the family’s claim over their history and inherent cultural pride. Anyone who spends five minutes with Harry and Bharati can plainly witness the contentment they feel by living the legacy and carrying on the family’s name and traditions. As if mirroring family succession, Harry and Bharati’s son, Suraj, has joined the business full time, bringing a sense of modernity and current technological trends, while their daughters, Indira and Kiran, remain involved in an effort to market, create and build on their ingrained understanding of family pride.
Today, N&S Mattai and Company continues to stand proudly as a testament to the power of hard work, determination and prayer, while Mattai’s – The Food Market stands across from it as a nod to continuity, belief in progression and loyalty to a country that has provided a life for each of its generations.
