September 2015 Issue Business View Caribbean

Business View Caribbean - September 2015 47 store that it became a viable venture. Up until then, he ran the operation at a loss.” Mario’s opened its 20th store in Trinidad, this past June, and Harford believes that there is room for more. The company would like to open another 10 to 15 out- lets on Trinidad, and maybe one or two stores on the smaller island of Tobago. It also plans to franchise re- gionally throughout the Caribbean. At one time, there were franchise stores in Grenada and St. Vincent, but they closed when the Great Recession depressed tour- ism on those two islands. Harford would like to re-open them, as well as expand to Jamaica and Barbados. The grand plan is to become a major brand, some day, in both North and South America. In the early days, Harford senior would go to the local markets every morning at 5:00 AM, to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. Today, most of the company’s raw materials are imported through local distributors who get their products from North America and Asia. The cheddar cheese comes fromNew Zealand. Mario’s stores don’t buy individually. “We have a central ware- house, and we also have a central production area, a commissary,” explains Harford. “We produce certain items and we truck them out to our stores. Our menu is made up of three main items, pizza being number