This year Amaranath Cumaraswamy is completing 50 years of continued service in the laundry and dry-cleaning field in Sri Lanka. He started his career 50 years ago (1973) in the laundry department at the first five-star hotel in Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Inter-Continental Hotel.
Here he had the opportunity to work in the first fully automated professional laundry and dry cleaning plant in Sri Lanka. Trained under Xavier Salhani, an Italian who was the director for laundry and dry cleaning for the Inter-Continental Hotel. He was trained in all aspects connected with professional laundry and dry cleaning work. In 1974 he won the first ‘Employee of the month’ award for his outstanding service in the hotel laundry section. In 1976 he was transferred to Riyadh Inter-Continental Hotel in Saudi Arabia and in 1978 he joined the Ramada Hotel Chain as laundry manager and served for 12 years in Abu Dhabi, Jabel Dhanna and Dubai.
He returned to Sri Lanka and joined the than Ramada Renaissance Hotel Colombo (Present Cinnamon Lakeside) as laundry manager There he was responsible in opening of the drive-in laundry counter, creases and pleats, and today it is the best professional laundry and dry cleaning service outlet in town.
After a long stint in the industry at both local and international hotels, he retired in 2008 in 2009 and joined Sri Lankan catering as management consultant for laundry and dry cleaning.
After completing his consultancy agreement with Sri Lankan Catering in 2012, he joined the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management, formerly known as Ceylon Hotel School, as laundry manager/ lecturer.
The students who successfully completed the laundry course have already found employment in five- star hotels in Colombo and overseas. Cumaraswamy has trained over 400 staff in this field. Some of them are working as laundry managers In Sri Lanka, Middle East and Maldives for five-star hotel chains and commercial laundries.