In the midst of the adversity posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left many without job security and scrambling to find alternative means of income, some have tried to find opportunity.
Eight months into Guyana’s economy being plagued by the virus and after curfews, lockdowns and re-openings, some entrepreneurs are thriving, while some are still continuing to navigate uncertain waters.
Mario Joseph launched Mario’s Juice Bar and Grill on July 17, almost four months ago.
Joseph is one of two business owners who had good news to share. “Despite the pandemic, the business has been a success,” he said. “… We haven’t see a decline… Business has been growing and growing.”
As a result of this growth, the entire kitchen of the Mario’s Juice Bar and Grill had to be revamped. New equipment was purchased and several more worktables constructed. A vent system has been installed. The dining area was revamped with a shade shed, while the menu was printed and put on the wall. Graphic designs were added to the walls for further enhancement also. Joseph explained that because the profit turnover has been fast, the business was able to cover all upgrades.
In addition, the juice bar and grill has tripled its staff, going from having three employees to nine. “I expected a good response since the plan I had in marketing was a good one, but the pandemic helped me because we filled a vacuum when many businesses were closed. So, when we emerged, a lot of people came to give us a try and it has been accelerating since. I didn’t expect business to do so well so fast. I actually catered for a loss in the first month and then a small profit after for the second and third months, but we didn’t go through that stage. Usually it takes a business about six months to break even before it starts making a profit, but we were able to avoid that whole cycle and jump straight into profit making which we invested back into the operations of the business,” shared Joseph.
At the beginning the business catered for 16 persons dining outdoors. However, last weekend will see the addition of stools and tables allowing for service to 32 persons overall. Not only was the seating capacity doubled, but instead of one cashier, he has hired another so that orders could be processed faster.
The juice bar and grill offers a variety of dishes on its menu. Some of the additions are Fettuccine Alfredo for which he said his price is the best anywhere in Guyana as the dish is sold at $2,500. There is also a whole red snapper dish, a prawn platter, corn on the cob, pineapple rice, and jewel rice. Meanwhile, on the milkshake list, the newest are the Blueberry Blizzard and the popular Cookies ’n Cream. A five-fruit smoothie fusion of blueberries, strawberries, cherries, guavas and watermelon has been added.
The most popular drinks are the Hershey’s Chocolate milkshake and the Green Giant smoothie. As regards food, Mario’s Juice Bar and Grill’s burgers have received rave reviews. Joseph said the burgers were developed through trial and error, made and redone many times until the delectable taste was achieved. The two most popular ones are the cheese chicken burger and the massive beef burger, both of which were developed from scratch. The business has many regular customers, Joseph said, adding that often they already know what their customers will order before they do.
Some customers rely on their orders being delivered to their location. While he relies on various delivery services to transport the orders, Joseph often ends up doing deliveries himself. However, given the business’s growth, it is becoming overwhelming. Joseph hopes to hire a delivery man soon, though he is somewhat hesitant. “I want to hire a delivery driver and have started looking into it. My trouble, however, is finding a trustworthy delivery rider. The type of people willing to take this job are usually people who are hustlers and are doing delivery on the side. So you would find them probably diverting to go pick up other people’s deliveries, and delaying mine, which will be disruptive for my business,” he said.
Joseph went on to share that although he hired new staff, he has also had staff turnovers as a result of absenteeism for various reasons. According to the man, he believes some of his employees thought that because his business was a small one they could take their jobs for granted. Joseph noted that he has hired persons within the last month and so far business is running smoothly.
And although, business is thriving, Joseph does not plan on slacking in marketing. In fact, a jingle was created for the business as well as a video commercial. Popular Chutney singer Steven Ramphal, a man of many talents, did the jingle and shot the video as well. The video commercial has been posted to the Mario’s Juice Bar and Grill Facebook business page and is expected to be aired soon on television.
“We used to buy 50 pounds of trout to last us a week and it would go over a day or two. Now, we’re buying 50 pounds of trout every three days because the fish is going really fast,” Joseph said. “With the trout, we do an Asian cuisine of trout with stir fried veggies. This is our most popular meal right now aside from our burgers.”
From fingers to food
Kenisia Lewis has been a nail technician for 17 years. However, when the pandemic hit customers were no longer visiting salons to have their nails done and the place where she operated soon closed as it was not considered an essential business.
A single mother of two and with no source of income, Lewis was unsure of what to do next. Cooking did not immediately occur to her, although she had always posted photos to her Facebook page of the meals she had prepared for her family, which caused a stir among her friends. Her love for cooking was passed down from her mother, who is an international chef.
Lewis recalled that one day in April she was with friends who wanted fried chicken to eat but everywhere was already closed. She offered to make them the chicken they wanted, and they could pay her; they agreed. By the following day, Lewis had opened Tasty Bites.
Though she now continues her nail art business, she no longer rents a location and does home visits. She works as a nail technician between 10 am to 3 pm and spends the rest of the afternoon and into the night cooking meals based on orders.
She already knew how to prepare many dishes. However, owing to requests, she learnt to make corn dogs, garlic prawns and butterfly prawns. Lewis said she had asked a friend who works as a chef on a cruise ship to teach her as he was back in Guyana at the time. Her prawns are now the meal most ordered. Because they are pricey, she makes various sized portions which cost $1,000, $1,500, and $2,000.
Lewis operates her food business every day except Sunday. Each meal is ordered before she makes it, so nothing goes to waste. Her customers are from the East Coast Demerara, East Bank Demerara and in the city. Some of the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company staff are regular customers. She also shared that during the time of the elections recount, she was hired by several parties that contested the elections to prepare meals for them.
Orders can also be placed during the day for the day. Party platters are made for during the day. Tasty Bites also offers milkshakes and cocktails.
“Since I’ve started, business has been great. Now I’m thinking I should have started doing it a long time ago,” Lewis said. When she first started, it was just her taking care of everything. She has since hired her son, who is an aspiring chef, to assist in the kitchen. Aaydin, 9, does all the delicious sauces, the salads, makes the milkshakes, checks to see when customers arrive and makes the change. The single mother further explained that this does not affect Aaydin’s schooling as classes are done by the time she is ready to begin at 3 in the afternoon.
Lewis hired 2 new workers in June/July, one who started peeling plantains but has since learnt how to assist in other ways in the kitchen and the other who mainly does clean up after cooking is finished.
“I have other plans—to get a truck and to sell outside events. I also want to expand my business but I’m waiting to see what happens first as regards COVID before I make that move. I’m a person who when I want something, I go after it,” Lewis said.
She has just created a healthy line of food for a seven-day meal plan. For this line, Lewis steers clear of carbohydrates. The idea for a healthy line of food was inspired by customers’ requests.
Tasty Bites is located at Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.
Pause on delivery
Yellow Jackets, a delivery service began operations on May 16, but sometime in September, the service ceased. The delivery service, founded by Michael Leonard and his wife, Ernestine, is on pause. “We’re trying to do some restructuring with the hope of returning but it’s not definite that we’re going to return,” Leonard said.
In a previous interview, Leonard had said it was an idea he and his wife had been toying with since 2018 but during the pandemic when they realized the demand for delivery services as people were travelling less, they jumped right in and opened the company.
However, reflecting on this decision, Leonard now believes it was rash and the plans for operations should have been poured over a bit more.
According to the man, service should have been more effective, but one of the biggest challenges was punctuality. Reliability was another, while a payment plan was a third. Leonard explained that he did not like the idea of his delivery agents riding around with large sums of cash on them for the sake of safety. He was hoping to use the Mobile Money Guyana service but not many persons were au fait with it.
“We had arrangement for a particular period where we had to provide delivery agents for a particular time. If you set a time for 8 o’clock, some agents don’t turn up until 10 o’clock and they just don’t care, so we had a high staff turnover. It’s difficult to find employees committed to doing a good job,” he said.
Leonard explained that Yellow Jackets took the initiative to have their agents trained for three days in customer service but yet they were not as reliable as they should have been. Using an example, he shared that one agent was required to purchase an item and drop it off for a customer. The agent took such a long time in getting to the store that by the time he arrived, the store was closed. As such, he called the customer up and promised that as a result of his agent’s tardiness, Yellow Jackets would cover the cost of the item and have it delivered the following day. However, he added, the incident should have never occurred in the first place.
Communication or lack of was another issue. Agents, he noted, were not always available when he tried to contact them or would not answer phone calls. Leonard questioned what was he to do for his customers if he could not reach his employees.
Leonard said other delivery services had a payment system where their employees were paid half the cost of a drop, but he did not see this as fair to employees. While it could turn out to be a good thing for an employee if the day was profitable, a bad day with maybe just $1,000 earned would see the company and the employee each receiving $500. At Yellow Jackets, the daily minimum wage was $3,500 so if employees worked drops worth less than that then the company made it up somehow. However, if an agent worked $8,000 at the end of the day, then the employee, got $3,500, Yellow Jackets got $3,500 and the remainder was split equally.
While Leonard is looking at solutions to reopen his delivery company, he is still uncertain of that happening.
With pupils still doing virtual schooling, Leonard is considering an online business called Study Buddy, where teachers could teach various subjects according to the Ministry of Education curriculum. However, this will be put together on video and students can watch the videos via a link provided. The platform will also provide quizzes using past National Grade Six Assessment papers from 2007 to 2019.
So far, a platform has been created as well as a social media page. Currently, Leonard is working with several teachers on making this a possibility. This time, he intends to better plan his way forward and hopes to have the website up and running in January. He added that people are happy about the idea and are already asking that he start soon.
Leonard also has a media agency, called Xcess Interactive, which provides services in graphic design, web designs, and television productions.
Mario’s Juice Bar and Grill can be reached at 621-8063, while Tasty Bites can be contacted at 693-7947. For services provided by Xcess Interactive, Leonard can be reached at 601-0111.
