-from pastries in a small glass case to five ‘prime time’ businesses

EVER so often we marvel at the successes of some of Guyana’s most prominent personalities, without stopping for a moment to ponder on their gruelling exploits before attaining fame.

Just recently, Jerry Bacchus, aka ‘Jerries’, celebrated twenty-two years as a ‘prime time’ businessman, and the story behind his successes was truly captivating and motivating. Today Mr. Bacchus is the owner of five thriving businesses, which he rightly made possible by ‘the sweat of his brows’. These businesses are: “Runway”, at Ogle Airport, ECD; “Tight and Sweet”, located at the Stabroek Market Square in downtown Georgetown; “Tek um Suh”, located at Bourda Market; “Auntie Rosie”, which is inside the Courts’ Main Street Store; “Jerries Hotel Restaurant and Bar”, located on Waterloo Street, Georgetown; and there is a location at Timehri.

HIS STIRRING JOURNEY
In the early 1980s, Jerries, as he is more popularly known, was just a humble soul trudging through the city on a bicycle selling his delicious pastries. He was then learning the art of making various ‘pastry delights’ even as he was earning cash.
He rapidly made new friends and customers, since the notable ‘Jerries Flavour’ became a taste they could not live without. Jerries had this to say of that period: “It was very hard work to bake pastries most of the day and ride around selling in the afternoon. But I braved the odds, since it was my dream to be successful one day”.
His wife, employed at the then Barclay’s Bank in Georgetown, would help him with the baking whenever she was free, especially on weekends.

In 1987, the humble businessman travelled to Brazil, where he stayed until 1991, when he returned to his homeland and displayed his humility by returning to his former trade of selling pastries.

Soon after, he struck gold when a good friend at the John Fernandes Wharf assisted him in obtaining some cash, and he opened his first ‘Jerries’ location on New Market Street, Georgetown. He actually transformed the Black Pussy Cat Liquor Store and opened business there with a single freezer, four cases of Soca soft drinks and a small wooden glass case.

‘Jerries’ also operated a canteen at the Bishop’s High School for over nineteen years. He had also operated a canteen at the School of the Nations in Georgetown.

“This was my first real effort at setting up my own businesses, and I knew it was a bit risky. But with the support of my many loyal customers, things began to pick up, and we simply took off from there,” he disclosed.

In time, word of his operation spread like wild fire, and his customer base grew rapidly. On January 10, 2010, he was able to open ‘Runway’ at the Ogle Airport, and this location has since not closed even for a single day. His successes began to build up and, in March 2010, his fans were pleased that he had opened the ‘Tight and Sweet’ location. The ‘Auntie Rosie’ location was named after his aunt, who actually taught him the art of making pastries.

“It was my customers who made me successful today, and it’s through their support that I was able to open the ‘Tight and Sweet’ location in March 2010. But I must admit, a sister of mine refused to utter the name of that location for two whole years. She felt the name was just too suggestive,” Jerries disclosed.

In August 2010 his exploits paid off, and this allowed him to establish the ‘Tek Um Suh’ joint at Bourda Market, which opened around the clock for customers. However, he was forced to close shop there in 2012 because of the unsanitary surroundings and the fact that the geographic location of this business attracted junkies who had the gall to ‘prop themselves for ages at the counter’ turning away some customers. This area also was frequented by too many criminal elements.

His biggest location, however, is the Tropicana Hotel’, (2008) which is highly rated by both local and overseas visitors who have stayed there.

The biggest challenge this businessman faces is to have each location function independently. He ‘touches bases’ with each business regularly, and has a total staff complement of more than sixty persons.

With no plans for immediate further expansions, ‘Jerries’ makes it his mandate to employ mostly female staffers and single mothers, since he is of the view that these suffering women need a healthy and honest forum to earn for themselves and families.

Jerries also intends to branch into ‘franchise holdings’ and to focus on intense standardisation and having all his cooking done at one centralised location. Presentation and hygiene are of vital importance to him, and these are high points he enforces among his employees.

Today ‘Jerries’ has over 27,000 followers on the Facebook social network, and has his own website, dubbed www.jerriesguyana.com.
Last weekend, this hardworking businessman, who can be contacted on cell#686-3437, celebrated his 22nd anniversary as a resilient businessman with performances by Dubraj’s Tassa Drum Group and the African Drummers out of Buxton, East Coast Demerara.