All about the flavour

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart.” – Cesar Chavez, farm labourer and civil rights activist.

WHAT has grown into a small, cottage business for Anderson and Reeni Bernard began with their desire to do two things: share food with family and friends and try new things with the food.

Since formally establishing their business–Big B’s Catering and Speciality Sauces–about two months ago, their line of products has grown, with recent additions being cranberry and pineapple barbecue sauces.

Speaking to Sunday Newsday at its Pembroke Street office in Port of Spain, Bernard said, “Probably just over a year ago, we were making ponche de crème and pepper sauce for friends and family. It just kept growing because of word of mouth.”

The couple’s food exploration began when Reeni decided to become a stay-at-home mother to their two daughters, Michaella and Marlena.

Recalling how they got into food, Bernard said, “My wife does not work at the moment and we have two kids, six and 12. So it was a sacrificial decision that she made to stay at home to see about them because we do not want anyone looking after them.”

He would often come home, midweek, and find a meal of fried rice, sweet potato, plantain pie among others.

Reeni added that is where the cooking came in. “After a long hard day of work, you’re stressed out; you want something to eat but something different. So we would just whip up something. ‘Let us try this and let us try that.’ I think that is where the cooking part came in.”

She would often invite Bernard home for lunch and he would bring along friends with him. Soon his friends began calling Reeni and asking what was for lunch.

The couple said Reeni’s cooking for the family and friends began around 2005. The couple did not sell anything then “that was just for friends.” The couple did their first “for sale” barbecue in 2012.

However, their catering business was also fuelled by winning a cookout held at Kiddies Kindergarten at Mt D’or.

“It was a cookout between the protective services. And along with the police team we took part and won.”

Reeni did not believe that their team would have won “because we were not certified and we were not trained.

“There were prisons and coast guard. We told ourselves we would go with what we are accustomed doing and make it taste good.”

The group’s theme was Tobago and the team was given some of the ingredients “and we had to follow that menu to a T.”

“I did crab and she did plantains, sweet potato pie. We also did coo coo. We did pork. It was a team effort and everyone did something. We also did a Trini river lime chow on that day and we carried pepper sauce.”

Bernard remembered the judges giving him a smile and walking away. In comparison to all of the “fancy food, hats and costumes,” the team was shocked they won the cookout simply dressed in “white T-shirts and black jeans.”

“That was a start because we were on television that year or the following year when we won. Everyone was like ‘wow’ because we won some small prize money and a trophy,” he said. Bernard and his team took a year off and then entered again and won again.

Bernard said they then partnered with the northern division police team and “that was when everyone started to encourage us.”

That was in 2016 and the couple’s business was only registered this year.

Around this time as well, Bernard began making ponche de crème also for family and friends because he was “fed up of begging people to make it for me.”

He used the popular Naparima Girls’ cookbook ponche de crème recipe but still found something to be missing.

“I went into their recipe and I did our first ponche de crème from that, and I was like ‘it is good but I want something more’. And then we started playing with the ingredients from our cupboard. And that was it. The first person that was passed the mug went, ‘wow this tasting different. This is really great,’” Bernard said.

The couple’s ponche de crème recipe uses “the old school method” of eggs, milk, alcohol and spices but not too much alcohol, Reeni said.

Bernard made five bottles the first year. “The second year we started with friends, and then Christmas they tried to send me crazy,” Bernard said with a laugh.

“By Christmas, I had to make almost 90 bottles for friends of friends and family.”

The couple was not selling the local Christmas drink as yet but soon began to as “it was a bit expensive” to make.

Last year, the couple made and sold 97 bottles of ponche de crème. This year they have sold about 50 to 60 bottles so far, with orders coming in steadily.

And so began the growth of the business.

In addition to selling ponche de crème and pepper sauce, they were also frequently doing barbecues, so they developed and began selling barbecue sauces.

Since registering the business this August the range of products has grown rapidly. “Presently, our line of products seem to be growing at every breath we take. In September, I had ponche de crème, pepper sauce, garlic sauce and the barbecue sauce.

“By October, I added the two flavours, the pineapple flavour and the cranberry flavour. Then I have two types of the pepper, which is hot pepper and a slight.

“Then we evolved into sizes, garlic sauce has a smaller bottle, ponche de creme has a smaller bottle. Then last month, we added local wines.

“And a sorrel liquor. As of this month end, we are also adding sorrel and ginger beer,” Bernard said.

The couple took the advice of their brother-in-law (Bernard’s sister’s husband) to sell their pastelles after debuting it at Spices Food Festival, Chaguaramas in September.

Quality is an important word for the Bernards, who grow their seasonings and do not add any preservatives, additives, colouring or corn starch to their products, with the exception of the pepper sauce, to which they add vinegar. Bernard, Reeni and their two daughters are the only staff members at the moment, but they hope to hire people once the business continues to grow and expand.

They do not yet have suppliers and shop around at the groceries in their Arima home town. They are currently extending their kitchen to do more “stuff at home.”

“The next step after that, once the finances start coming forward is to look for a place somewhere we would set up our store,” Bernard said.

The couple have also been attending up-markets, sampling and selling their product.

As they await bar codes for their products, they hope to have them in groceries by Christmas. Representatives from two supermarket chains approached them while at an upmarket at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya and expressed the interest in their products. But although they want their products on supermarket shelves in TT, Bernard does not want to compromise on the quality to do so. “We are small cottage business. We operate from home. So it will be something exclusive. I am not going to produce 500 bottles of ponche de creme and have it in stores all over the place and it does not sell. I am going to produce a product that people will actually want.” Meanwhile, through friends, their pepper sauce has made it to Grenada and they’ve also had requests from Tobago and New York.