Store Bay vendors trained to raise standards

Stephon Nicholas

Store Bay ven­dors are promis­ing vis­i­tors an even bet­ter culi­nary ex­pe­ri­ence af­ter com­plet­ing a manda­to­ry qual­i­ty im­prove­ment work­shop aimed at rais­ing food and ser­vice stan­dards.

The five-day sem­i­nar, man­aged by the To­ba­go Hos­pi­tal­i­ty and Tourism In­sti­tute (THTI), fo­cused on qual­i­ty stan­dards, food safe­ty, cus­tomer ser­vice and en­hanc­ing the over­all vis­i­tor ex­pe­ri­ence.

Speak­ing at Wednes­day's cer­tifi­cate pre­sen­ta­tion at THTI in Mt St George, Store Bay Beach Fa­cil­i­ty co-or­di­na­tor Sadie-Monique Har­ry-Al­fred be­came emo­tion­al as she paid trib­ute to the women who es­tab­lished the beach's rep­u­ta­tion for au­then­tic To­bag­on­ian cui­sine.

"Be­fore we cel­e­brate the suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of this work­shop, I in­vite us to re­flect on the shoul­ders up­on which we stand to­day. This means a whole lot to me...

"We ho­n­our the lega­cy of the late Miss Jean, Miss Esmie, Miss Joyce and Miss Al­ma. We al­so ho­n­our the liv­ing lega­cy of Miss Trim and Miss Sylvia and the many hard­work­ing sweet-hand woman of the Bon Ac­cord, Canaan and Crown Point com­mu­ni­ty, women like Ros­alind Al­fred, de­ceased, and Pearl 'Mam­my Pearl' George."

Har­ry-Al­fred said the women de­vot­ed them­selves to pre­serv­ing one of To­ba­go's best-known culi­nary tra­di­tions, crab and dumpling.

"They built more than a liveli­hood, they built a rep­u­ta­tion through ded­i­ca­tion, sac­ri­fice and an un­wa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to qual­i­ty.

"They made Store Bay Beach Fa­cil­i­ty syn­ony­mous with the crab and dumpling."

Ad­dress­ing the ven­dors, she re­mind­ed them they now car­ry an im­por­tant re­spon­si­bil­i­ty.

"As you stand here to­day, you are not mere­ly ven­dors. You are cus­to­di­ans of To­ba­go's his­to­ry and iden­ti­ty.

"Every pot tells a sto­ry, your pot must tell a sto­ry. Every plate served car­ries rep­u­ta­tion, the rep­u­ta­tion of Store Bay and To­ba­go."

She said vis­i­tors in­creas­ing­ly seek au­then­tic ex­pe­ri­ences, mak­ing the work­shop an in­vest­ment in To­ba­go's tourism prod­uct and culi­nary her­itage.

"To­day as you re­ceive your cer­tifi­cates, re­mem­ber they rep­re­sent more than the com­ple­tion of a train­ing pro­gramme. They rep­re­sent a com­mit­ment to up­hold the stan­dards that have made Store Bay fa­mous."

Har­ry-Al­fred urged ven­dors to ap­ply what they learned con­sis­tent­ly rather than on­ly dur­ing in­spec­tions.

"Stan­dards can­not be tem­po­rary, they can­not ex­ist on­ly when in­spec­tions are tak­ing place or train­ing con­duct­ed. They must be­come a habit."

She al­so urged them not to com­pro­mise the qual­i­ty of their sig­na­ture dish.

"We want the crab steam­ing in their own juices. We nah want no long sauce. Re­al co­conut milk in crab and dumpling."

On June 22, Fi­nance Sec­re­tary Petal-Ann Roberts an­nounced plans for ma­jor up­grades to the Store Bay Beach Fa­cil­i­ty dur­ing fis­cal 2027.