Machado

From his cluttered office at Mac's Gourmet Market Limited in St Andrew, Mario Machado calls the shots. Juggling phone calls, directing staff and greeting customers is a challenge, even for this veteran restaurateur.

Mac's Gourmet Market is Machado's latest eatery but is not exactly new. He opened it two years ago as a side project for his upscale New Kingston restaurant, Mac's Chop House, but gave it full attention when the latter closed in March.

The grab-and-go spot, as Machado calls it, serves a variety of baguette sandwiches, meats and salads. It has a more diverse clientele than Mac's Chop House and Bullseye, another high-end restaurant he once owned.

The 54-year-old Machado hopes this smaller operation will result in monetary profits, something his previous businesses failed to produce.

Critical mass

"We are at a point where we call critical mass. What we need to do is find one or two other revenue streams without having to invest more money and have more overheads," Machado told The Gleaner.

Machado recently discovered one such stream in a leading St Andrew supermarket, where Mac's Gourmet Market Limited is scheduled to open in December. Their arrangement guarantees the supermarket a percentage of Mac's profits, while Machado is assured 'free' space for his product.

A similar deal would have served Machado well when he managed Bullseye and Mac's Chop House which succumbed to economic crunch. Both restaurants catered to a corporate and expatriate crowd and initially showed promise, but rapidly wilted during two of Jamaica's most debilitating financial crises.

"Bullseye suffered in the time of FINSAC. With the Cash Plus/Olint situation we saw a big drop at Mac's and by October last year there was no business," Machado explained.

Financial meltdown

The Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC) was established by government to oversee the financial meltdown that took place in the mid-1990s. Thousands of Jamaicans invested billions of dollars in Cash Plus and Olint, alternative schemes that crashed in the last two years.

Machado said life has never been good for owners of Jamaica's upscale restaurants.

"I think if you look at the history of these restaurants, very few are still around," he said.

Machado has been around the leisure industry for more than three decades. Prior to opening Bullseye and Mac's Chop House, he was proprietor of the Pork Pit restaurant in Montego Bay and the Blue Mountain Inn restaurant in St Andrew.

A different route

Mario Machado's family are Cubans of Portuguese stock who came to Jamaica in the late 19th century. Several of his relatives, including grandfather Benito, were dentists while his father Guilermo was president of Air Jamaica.

He chose a different route. After graduating from Britain's Westminster College, where he majored in hotel management, Machado worked in Jamaica with the Bayroc group (which later became Sandals) and Negril Beach Village (later Hedonism II).