FROM BOYS TO MAINSTREAM

It is said that Trinbagonians are lovers of chicken. But Mario Sabga-Aboud proved the soothsayers wrong when in the throes of the 1980s recession he dished up hamburgers and a platter of fast-food sandwiches to the traditional chicken-loving public.

He and his Burger Boys offerings became an instant hit.

"The first restaurant at Frederick and Queen (Streets), downtown was such a big hit with the kids it became a regular liming spot. This became a bit of a problem as it caused traffic to slow down at that corner especially on Friday afternoons," recalls Sabga-Aboud.

But the Burger Boys name also became popular among working adults who stopped off for the early morning breakfast specials on their way to work.

"I always wanted to do something different. And to me there was a need to provide busy people, people on the go, with quick service and to offer them a larger menu," explained the 39-year-old chairman of Burger Boys Ltd.

Defying the skepticism of his peers who labelled him 'crazy' for starting a new food business in a troubled economic environment back in October 1986, Sabga-Aboud has built up a fast-food empire which today serves up a menu of pizza, donuts, French bread, Creole, Indian and Chinese cuisine.

"People thought I was crazy to spend $2.5 million at the height of the recession to start Burger Boys but I felt there was a niche in the market to be filled. To me there was no true sense of fast-food service, no variety especially in downtown where there was only KFC and Royal Castle."

A business administration graduate from Broward Community College, Miami, Sabga-Aboud never felt intimated about going up against such fast food giants, including Mario's Pizzeria.

Today, he still has 'healthy respect for them as competitors".

And so with bright pink and blue fluorescent neon Coca Cola signs, juke box replicas and 1950s décor in the fashion of American style ice-cream stores and cafes, the doors of the first Burger Boys restaurant were thrown open.

Other trendy outlets quickly sprang up in Glencoe and Maraval which, inspired by his own restaurant experiences with his two daughters and son, Sabga-Aboud developed to cater for family outings with specially designed playgrounds for children.

"I don't always get to spend much time with my children so I would always take them with me and my wife, Vanessa, when we go out to eat. And you know they always wanted something to do apart from eat," he explains laughingly.

Family ties have always been his source of inspiration says Sabga-Aboud, who attributes his entrepreneurial success to his uncle and grandfather, Abraham and Anthony Laquis, with whom he worked for eight years at a textile store on Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain before launching into the fast food business.

The two men, especially his uncle, became father-figures to Sabga-Aboud whose own father, Anthony Sabga-Aboud died in Lebanon - where he was posted as Trinidad's High Commissioner for the Middle East - while he (Mario) was just 15.

A lawyer Anthony Sabga-Aboud migrated to Trinidad and Tobago from Syria around the 1940s and married Trinidadian Marie Laquis (who remarried after his death) with whom he had four children - Mario, Norman, Lorraine and Jackie. He also served as this country's High Commissioner to Guyana and Jamaica in the 1960s.

"We had a close relationship with our father. The family always moved around with him wherever he was based," recalls Norman, 34, the managing director of Burger Boys Ltd.

Although their uncle and grandfather moved out of the textile industry and set up one of the country's largest pharmaceutical companies, AA Laquis, the elder Sabga-Aboud still remembers those years at the store where he learnt first hand, the risks of running a business.

"It was from them that I truly developed an understanding of business and my uncle in particular supported my decision to get into the food business despite the recession."

Always toying with new ideas, Sabga-Aboud soon went after one of his favourite foods, pizza, when in 1987 he set up the Pizza Boys arm of the enterprise.

Again, he had another hit on his hands.

"I invested about $1 million to add Pizza Boys which I set up at the Burger Boys outlets as they complemented each other. The name changed then to Pizza/Burger Boys and then to Pizza Boys as this seemed to become more synonymous with the business. The company, however, remains Burger Boys Ltd."

Always guided by his own culinary tastes Sabga-Aboud, who's not afraid to roll up his sleeves and help knead beef patties in the Burger Boys kitchens, in the following years, added Wok 'n Roll, a take-away Chinese fast food service, and Imperial Garden, its fine-dining equivalent, to the chain of restaurants.

The French-styled Vie de France bakery and café also made its way into the Burger Boys family after the 'hands-on' businessman attained a franchise from the United States-based restaurant chain.

Branching into the French bread business was 'another risk that paid off' says Sabga-Aboud, who was inspired to go after the Vie de France franchise after a visit to one of its Miami bakeries.

"It was fascinating to see the range of quality freshly baked French breads and I started thinking of how to adapt this to Trinidad."

That Burger Boys Ltd. did not have to pay a franchise fee and that it only had to purchase the partially baked breads, bagels and other pastries from its Atlanta supplier, sweetened the pot for Sabga-Aboud, who has since opened four Vie de France outlets.

The Grand Bazaar branch was subsequently sold over to a former employee, Anil Singh, who started off as a porter at Burger Boys. Singh had approached Sabga-Aboud for assistance in starting his own business.

"I started with help from my uncle. And I have since had the opportunity to help a guy who worked for me. It is important for us (successful businessmen) to help those who want to start up on their own," stated the 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner for Food and Hospitality.

Always on the lookout for innovative ways to remain competitive and expand his market, a visit to a Dunkin' Donuts Miami outlet prompted Sabga-Aboud to start up Donut Boys which has become a huge franchise success for the Burger Boys group.

Since installing a bakery worth an estimated $4 million at the group's head office and distribution centre in Chaguanas two years ago, Donut Boys has been franchised to more than 50 locations outside of the Pizza/Burger Boys network.

"This (Donut Boys franchise) was a way for others to get into their own business, as well as spreading the distribution of the product. The franchise fee is $25,000. And with another $25,000 or $30,000 to develop the outlet itself, a franchisee can get his business started."

And the latest installment in the Burger Boys success story is the new $7 million family facility to which the Maraval fast food and Vie de France outlets have been transferred.

Pushed by rising rents, Sabga-Aboud decided to turn a family-owned apartment block on the Saddle Road into a one-stop family restaurant where youngsters can get a kick out of playing miniature football, video games and even hold their birthday parties. A similar outlet was opened in Scarborough, Tobago earlier this year.

Despite the string of successes over the past 13 years, not everything that Sabga-Aboud has touched has "turned to gold". His venture into Italian fine dining with Bottecelli restaurant at Grand Bazaar failed to take off.

"Not everything that I've touched has turned to gold. Bottecelli's did not work because it required one to be there full time. I've since sold it.

"But the experience reflects something which I strongly believe and that is you must never be afraid to take a risk and you must never be ashamed if it doesn't work."

Undaunted by the unsuccessful Italian venture, Sabga-Aboud still believes there is room for further expansion of the Burger Boys group.

This includes a possible listing on the local stock exchange in "about five years time".

"We are considering this. Going public gives our customers a share in our success," said Sabga-Aboud.

In agreement with his elder sibling, Norman added that going public would help the company to raise the necessary capital for regional expansion.

"But this is not something we want to do right now," he stressed.

Plans are already in place to set up outlets in Princes Town, Sangre Grande, Pt. Lisas and San Fernando in the coming months.

And while the group is not ready to branch out into the regional market, the elder Sabga-Aboud has assured that when the time is right Pizza/Burger Boys outlets will be set up across the Caribbean.

"We have already requests coming from other islands for us to come in. But for the moment we are going to concentrate on Trinidad and Tobago."

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Soon there will be no need to reach for the telephone to call for pizza when a hunger pang strikes while you are surfing on the Internet. Instead you can just click on Pizza Boys' web site and place an online order for your favourite ham and pineapple pizza.

That's the goal of Burger Boys Ltd. managing director, Norman Sabga-Aboud, who is spearheading the move to introduce online delivery throughout the group's fast food and restaurant chain.

"We hope things will get started in two to three months. The only issue we're looking at right now is how to authorize the purchase and verify orders," explained Sabga-Aboud.

A self-described 'computer-buff', Sabga-Aboud, 34, is working on a solution for this problem by introducing a pre-authorized password which would identify customers who have registered on the pizzaboys.com web site.

And apart from making credit card payments for orders over the Internet, customers can look forward to using both credit and bank cards through the debit/credit service Linx, as delivery drivers are now being installed with cellular / Visa machines, disclosed Sabga-Aboud.

The move to provide online services to customers is part of wider computer-based network through which communications are streamlined among all restaurants in the Burger Boys group.

From a home base at the group's Chaguanas distribution head offices, deliveries are closely monitored on a customized software programme installed by TSTT, said Sabga-Aboud, who manages the group's information systems and finance portfolios.

Stating that it cost an estimated $500,000 to set up, the call centre is manned by 16 telephone operators who automatically redirect orders made on the toll-free 800-BOYS number to the respective Pizza/Burger Boys and Wok 'n Roll branches.

An economics graduate from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, Sabga-Aboud believes that the development of an information systems programme has boosted the group's sales by home delivery, which now accounts for about 40 percent of total sales.

"It is very important for our business. With this technology, we can correct problems quickly at our branches. We can closely monitor deliveries, so we know what is happening at every stage from the time an order is placed.

But the system also helps us to keep in contact with our branches. We build up customer files, and complaints can be quickly addressed by Mario (group chairman) and myself and sent back to the area manager," said the father of two.

The decision to have local programmers develop a specialized system has also paid off, said Sabga-Aboud, since it is tailor-made to demographics of the areas which the group serves.

"Our street addresses, for example, tend to read as light pole numbers and so on and the packages from the US and Europe did not cater for these specifics. We worked very closely with TSTT on this."

But the investment in a centralized computer database has a long-term application for the group, which has future plans to expand its operations across the Caribbean.

"We may look at (regional expansion) in about four to five years time. But our call centre would help us to keep in touch with overseas restaurants which can be monitored in the same way as is done here."

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