Adam's Bagels at 32: Sauces, service and Sundays

JULIEN NEAVES

FOLLOWING the July 1990 attempted coup Adam Aboud lost his ladies' clothing business. When he returned to Trinidad from New York his father asked if he had any new business ideas, but he was deflated.

"I said, 'I don't want to open a business. I'm done. I don't want to go into business again.'"

His father asked him what he did every day in New York, and he replied he went to a bagel shop every day with a friend and had a coffee and a bagel. His father then asked how busy the bagel shop was and he told him it was very busy.

"He said, 'What about if you open a bagel shop?'"

It was that suggestion that led to the opening of Adam's Bagels which has been serving Maraval for the past 32 years.

Newsday met up with CEO Adam Aboud and his son Edmund, managing director of Adam's Gourmet Sauces Ltd and Adam's Bagels director, at the #15A Saddle Road location.

The place was bustling at the time of the interview with customers browsing in the shopping area and people seated in the restaurant waiting for their meals and drinks.

But business has not always been booming.

Aboud recalled he learned about making bagels at a New York bagel shop and started by making them in his mother's kitchen. He took his bagels to a Christmas bazaar at Hilton Trinidad, and they sold out in half an hour.

"People started calling (about the bagels). And that was the beginning."

He opened the bakery in 1993 but his bagels were not exactly selling like hot bread.

"I was the first and only bagel shop in Trinidad. I had to educate them. I'm still the only real bagel shop."

Aboud recalled when the business started bagels could not pay the bills. He telephoned his "oven man" and told him he needed to make something else. He was put in touch with the "mixer man" who gave him an Italian bread recipe which he still makes to this day. His mother, Odette, would bring down beef pies and baby pizzas.

"That's how we evolved into what you see here."

Edmund said his grandmother was a support structure to his father at the start of the business.

"(She) would oversee operations day to day. She was a massive part of it."

He said his family was sad to lose her in 2022.

"We have to take on the business, we have to carry on her legacy which was always keeping customers happy. She was a great team builder, and my father intends to take on that role."

Adam's gets saucy

Aboud said people kept asking for different menu items, like bagels and cream cheese or bagel with ham and eggs, so he began making other items. They then added a kitchen and added ham sandwiches and turkey on rye to the menu. He recalled his father helped him open the restaurant together with his wife, Jacqueline.

"With the restaurant came nicer things. Salads, soups. And we started making pepper sauce for the restaurant. Why buy pepper sauce?"

They also began making garlic sauce. Eventually, customers started asking to take their sauces home.

"So, we started making it in the kitchen. And it got so popular we started putting it on the shelf to sell."

He recalled at a point when they were making so much pepper in the kitchen that people could not see in the restaurant.

"It was fumigating the place," he quipped.

They decided to move the sauce-making to Diamond Vale, Diego Martin. Adam's Gourmet Sauces Ltd officially launched in 2017 and Edmund recalled they started selling in Linda's Bakery where the family is part-owner.

They eventually expanded into SuperPharm and different groceries including Xtra Foods, Tru Valu, Food Basket, Persad's, West Bees, and Massy Stores. The sauces are in more than 100 locations and the products are in the refrigerated section because they do not use preservatives.

The current line is pepper sauce, garlic sauce, chadon beni sauce and honey mustard sauce. They are developing a pimento sauce, a balsamic vinegar sauce and an oriental dressing.

Edmund said production is moving back from Diamond Vale to Maraval within the next month which will mean he can be there on a more regular basis. He added there will be even more development of the sauce line planned, including new sauces and seasonings.

Aboud chimed in that Adam's Bagels is their "testing ground" for the new sauces. He said the sauces have received several positive responses.

"'This is the best pepper sauce ever; Never put preservatives; All the others are too thick' ... A lot of nice comments."

Edmund said people have asked why they do not sell their sauces in Miami or New York, and he confirmed the next step is to export.

"Now we are looking to see some more growth. And within the next six months to a year get some export product out there."

He said it would be a slightly premium product and adjusted the recipe to make it more shelf stable but retain Adam's brand equity.

Love what you do

On the offerings at Adam's, Aboud said they travel a lot and get ideas from all over the world and take pictures at every bakery he visits.

"They might make it with lingonberries, we might make it with paw paw. So, we're very creative locally."

He noted they make sorrel cheesecake and may be the only people in the world making it.

"Everyone likes nice things."

On the travel website Tripadvisor, Adam's Bagels is rated number two out of 13 restaurants in Maraval and has a four out of five-point rating.

Asked what the secret of their success is, Aboud replied it was his wife Jacqueline.

"Her very high standards and expectations, always leaving the customers having a great experience. Service recovery must be at the top of your game. Solving customers' problems."

He also stressed the importance of being honest with clientele.

"You have to be honest and truthful with your customers. If you're telling me you're putting Manzanilla olives (for example) put Manzanilla olives. You need to be true to your customers; they appreciate that. I have a great following after 32 years and that's because my customers trust me. And I try to give them the nicest experience possible."

Aboud said people had asked when Adam's was opening another branch elsewhere in Trinidad, but he replied there were no plans for expansion.

"You can't serve two masters. You can't. I used to have a branch in Port of Spain. Every time I went down there to fix something, something fell apart up here. Came back up here to fix this, something fell apart down there. I said, 'You know something, one business, one man.' That's the only way to really deliver quality."

Edmund said that they prefer "to be great than big."

Aboud pointed out he has people working with him since he started.

"I am very easy to work with and I believe you must enjoy what you're doing. If you're not enjoying what you're doing, find something else to do."

He added that he did not mind his staff having fun once the work was done.

"I have a lot of fun doing what I do."

Edmund said his role in the business is development and he has spearheaded new initiatives such as opening on Sundays, new signage, furniture and marketing.

"Adam is the soul of the business and vital to the option. And he is allowing me to come in and do that development."

He said that his father will focus on day-to-day operations while he is here to "take the business to the next level."

"We are hoping to keep going on as a family business and the next generation will come in to run the business."

Aboud said it was important to love what you do.

"I love my business. I love the patronage. I really appreciate my clientele. They're forgiving at times, they're respectful at times. They don't only give me the bad points; they give me the good points when we do well. So, I'm very appreciative of my customers over the last 32 years."