Business of the Year

The Pizza House Group of Companies embraces, in addition to Burger Boys and Rituals Coffee House; Church’s Chicken, Pizza Boys, Donut Boys, Vie de France, VIP Flyers Club and Wok n Roll. Chairman of the Pizza Boys Group, Mario Sabga-Aboud, in addressing the award ceremony, pointed out that there were those who had believed that a burger restaurant would not survive in the domestic market, adding that the naysayers were proved wrong as it had become a successful business.

“This became our platform for everything that followed, from pizza to Cantonese to donuts and now coffee,” Sabga-Aboud noted.

Although we do not dispute that domestic franchisees operating under licences granted them by foreign fast food franchisers have created employment and turned money around within the economy as well as generated State revenue, nonetheless the Pizza Boys Group will earn, by expanding globally, needed foreign exchange. In addition, its Caribbean expansion will, in stimulating new jobs regionally, make an important contribution to strengthening the economies of Caribbean countries which are today hurting, not only because of the current international financial crisis, but the ending of the Convention of Cotonou, formerly the Convention of Lome.

A point worth paying close attention to, is that the traditional North to South fast food franchisee granting process appears to be under challenge by the Pizza Boys Group of Companies.

Already, the group is being rebranded as the Global Brands Group of Companies as a result of its success and projected growth.

For the record, the Pizza Boys Group is the third company or group of companies to win the Large Business of the Year Award, whose umbrella - Caribbean Business Awards - was created in 2010 in Antigua by Janice and Derrick Sutherland. The criteria by which the companies have been adjudged include all round excellence in business, financial performance, future growth and competitiveness.

The Pizza Boys Group of Companies will have to ensure that the same clearly high level of standards it has set in Trinidad and Tobago and which was responsible for its success, will be required of its franchisees, regionally and internationally. The establishing and maintaining of these standards will effectively market Trinidad and Tobago, and a benefit will be increased investment here as companies seek to maximise returns. Careful attention should be paid to continued investment in training as well.

What the Pizza Boys Group of Companies has achieved and continues to achieve should be a pointer to other domestic concerns with the potential for expansion of their businesses. As Sabga-Aboud emphasised at the presentation of awards ceremony, the key reason for the success of the restaurant chain had been a drive “to make something out of nothing”. Today, the group which grew out of the Burger Boys’ 1987 initiative employs 1,000 persons.

“Rituals Coffee House and all of our brands under the Pizza Boys Group of Companies,” Sabga-Aboud said with pride, “are Trinidad and Tobago born and represent the Caribbean people.” The Chairman of the Pizza Boys Group has every reason to be proud of his companies’ achievement and is confident of their prospects in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and internationally. What motivated this pride and confidence have been the encouraging returns on the capital invested by the principals. The group’s favourable economic position, if we are to judge by the size of its expansion over the years, its planned investment and the strength of its work force, clearly demonstrate this.