The jury may still be out on the health and nutritional issues that attend the proliferation of international food franchises in developing countries, but those considerations are doing little to deter Guyanese investors. Aggressive international marketing driven by television and, more recently, accelerated internet penetration in developing countries, continues to bring international food franchises to the doorsteps of countries like Guyana. Add to that increased travel, more disposable income and impressionable eating habits and it is not difficult to determine why, today, there are probably as many as a dozen food foreign franchise brands in Guyana.
Alfro Alphonso & Sons, one of the more diversified business enterprises in Guyana is the latest local company to take the plunge into international eating franchises. Already involved in gold mining, fish processing and export, marketing of bottled water, coconut oil manufacture and electronic media, the enterprise last month launched Georgetown’s newest food franchise – 704 Food and Entertainment Complex – in a newly constructed four-storey building at Albert and Lamaha streets. Given the circumstance of overcrowding in downtown Georgetown it is as ideal a trading space as any.
Curt Taylor, the establishment’s Chief Operations Officer believes that by housing a food court, a sport bar, a lounge and a