Mario Sabga-Aboud: Never be afraid to keep trying

Sabga-Aboud, group chairman of the Global Brands Group of companies, parent company of Burger Boys Limited was recently presented with the Large Business of the Year 2012 honour from the Caribbean Business Awards (CBA).

The businesses under Burger Boys Limited include Rituals Coffee House, Pizza Boys, Church’s Chicken, Wok n Roll, Vie De France, Donut Boys and the VIP Flyers Club.

The company which started in 1986 celebrated 25 years in the business late last year. In an interview at the company’s head office at Lower Boundary Road, San Juan recently, Aboud recalled how the business got its start.

He said in 1982 while onvacation from school, while walking around with a friend looking for somewhere to have a hamburger he realised there was no where to go and that was when he got the idea to open up his own business.

He initially thought of introducing an American franchise into the country but at that time the economy was not the best and the government was not allowing any franchises, so Aboud decided that he would create his own brand.

He admitted he did not know anything about the food business so he met someone through a friend who managed one of the Burger King restaurants in the United States where he worked for three months learning the business. He then returned to Trinidad where he came up with the idea to open Burger Boys. The first Burger Boys restaurant was opened on the corner of Queen and Frederick Street in Port-of-Spain in October 1986.

While the restaurant was doing well, Aboud started thinking of what next he could introduce and he decided on pizza

“Pizza was a popular item and I started thinking why don’t I create a pizza restaurant and I will call it Pizza Boys since I already had Burger Boys,” he said.

Having no knowledge of the pizza business, Aboud decided to attend pizza conventions in the US to learn about it.

“My word of advice to anyone is understand something before totally getting involved in it,” he said.

Aboud attended the conventions and he met an Italian chef who offered training in pizza making.

“I told him this idea I had and asked if he would help me with the recipe and the formula, he said sure and I hired him to do that for me. We launched the first Pizza Boys a year after and that was a big hit in Trinidad then we started to branch off and open up more and more Pizza Boys restaurants,” he said.

The company then grew further when Aboud thought of introducing a Chinese restaurant that delivered. “I remembered every weekend I will go to St James to a Chinese restaurant to buy Chinese food, I love Chinese food, and I said why don’t I try to create a Chinese restaurant where you can do home deliveries,” he said.

He then came up with the name, Wok and Roll, Wok for the Chinese Wok used to cook the food and Roll for the deliveries and the business was opened in 1992.

Aboud did not stop there, he then got an idea to introduce doughnuts into the country so he did his research and found a company that produces all the raw materials to do it. He contacted the company and they sent a baker to train Aboud on the doughnut making process. After Donut Boys was formed and the company which started making 800 doughnuts a day now makes more than 20,000 a day.

Some time later, Aboud met a company called Vie De France in the US which sold bakery items, and he got the idea of introducing it into Trinidad which he did in 1997 with its first branch in Maraval. A few years after, Aboud started thinking of establishing a company that would compete with other US chicken restaurant franchises that were thriving in Trinidad. He mulled over creating his own brand but thought Chicken Boys did not sound right so he began his research and found another US franchise called Church’s Chicken. He met with the company and a development agreement for 20 stores in five years was signed.

The first store was opened almost ten years ago in downtown Port-of-Spain and it was a big hit but Aboud said a few months after, the novelty began wearing off and sales started to drop. He then realised people were not satisfied with the taste of the product as a local palate requires a more spicy, seasoned taste.

“I told Church’s we have a problem here because people were complaining that the chicken was too bland and it had no taste, so, I told them we needed to create a seasoning to suit the palate of the Caribbean people. They said no, this is our formula we can’t change it, it is our recipe, I fought them for about six or seven months and I suggested strongly that we come up with a new taste profile and they finally accepted it,” he explained.

A new taste profile was created with Chief brands and it was called “zesty spicy.” Once that was launched sales went back up by 80 percent and the Church’s brand have launched “zesty spicy” around the world.

Aboud then focused his energies on establishing coffee shops, the first of its kind in Trinidad. He got the idea after visiting the US and going to their very famous coffee shop, Starbucks.

“I went to Starbucks and had their coffee and for some reason walking with this cup in my hand made my pores raise and I thought it would be a good thing for Trinidad,” he said.

For his research, Aboud attended several coffee fest shows in the US so he could understand the business. He did the training and became a certified Barista (a person who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks).

He then started travelling through North America to get a feel of what a coffee shop should look and feel like.

“I wanted to create a cosy atmosphere with couches and make it a place for people to relax,” he said.

The only struggle Aboud had was coming up with a name for the business but his wife soon solved that.

“I was sitting on the porch smoking a cigar and having a drink and my wife asks me what’s bothering you? I said, I cannot come up with a name for this coffee shop and my wife says, ‘I’m gonna ask you one question and you will get the name, and she asks. What does coffee mean to you? And I said it is a ritual, I have to get up every morning and have it and she said, ‘That’s your name’ and that was such a perfect name, Rituals Coffee,” he said. The first Rituals was opened in 2003 in Maraval.

The company did so well here Aboud decided to take the franchise across the Caribbean. He visited St Lucia and could not get someone to take the franchise so he decided to open the coffee shop himself.

“We have seven there now and we have been there for five years. We also have two Church’s chicken restaurants there as well,” he said.

He also opened three Rituals in St Kitts in the last two years and a Rituals sushi restaurant which he hopes to introduce in Trinidad some time next year. He also intends to open his largest Church’s chicken restaurant in St Kitts on December 4.

Aboud said he had a lot of growth plans for Trinidad as he intends to open more Rituals coffee shops across the country.

“My dream within the next five to ten years is for everybody to be within ten minutes access of any rituals and I am hoping to be able to accomplish that,” he said.

Currently, there are 48 Rituals in Trinidad and Tobago and seven in other islands of the Caribbean. There are also 18 Church’s, 18 Pizza Boys, four Vie de France and two Wok and Roll restaurants.

Despite all of the company’s success, Aboud admitted that there were several challenges the company faced including shortage of labour.

“There is a severe shortage, we will take on 200 people if we can get them but we can’t. We have been trying to ask the Government to allow us to bring in people from Caricom but they have been giving us a hard time. The ones we have gotten with work permits, the Government is giving us a hard time to renew it and it has gotten to a state where it is stifling growth,” he lamented.

He said the country was doing well compared to the other islands in the Caribbean.

“I think it is the worst time I have ever seen it. In St Kitts we did interviews for 50 people we got over 500 applying for jobs but here it’s not like that,” he said.

Another challenge is the increasing cost of raw materials but the company has found a way to deal with that by cutting out the third party when it comes to importing.