September 2015 Issue Business View Caribbean

40 September 2015 - Business View Caribbean Mario’s Pizzeria Limited Risk-taking entrepreneur conquers the pizza market in trinidad For anyone who lives, or has grown up, in the United States, going out for some pizza, or having some deliv- ered, is hardly an unusual event. And why should it be? There are over 70,000 pizzerias in the U.S., and the total number of the pizza pies sold each year is about three billion! And 93 percent of Americans eat at least one slice of pizza per month. But until the early 1970s, pizza was virtually unknown in the Caribbean. That is, until Richard Harford founded Mario’s Pizzeria and be- gan selling the round, saucy and cheesy delicacy to the folks in his native Trinidad. Today, Mario’s Pizza is the leading pizza restaurant chain in Trinidad and Tobago, with 20 stores, plus an additional five outlets in Guyana. Mario’s Pizza is man- aged by Richard’s three sons, Roger, Randal, and Ryan Harford, all Directors of the family-owned enterprise. The chain controls 55 percent of the local market, out- pacing its competitors, international chains such as Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and Papa Johns, as well as Pizza Boys, a local company that opened in 1989. Roger Harford recounts how his dad wound up being