Everybody in Barbados knows that if you want a tasty meal in a clean restaurant for a good price, you can always go to one of the 13 Chefette Restaurants on the island. Chefette will never be the cheapest, and it will never be “haute cuisine”, but it is always tasty with good portions.
As much as we might sometimes refer to Chefette Restaurants as the “Bajan McDonald’s”, it really does not deserve to be associated with the “M” word. (Shona says that Chefette owner Mr. Haloute goes bananas when somebody says the “M” word… and Shona should know because she worked at Chefette back in school. “Didn’t everybody?” she comments.)
But there is another side to Chefette, and that is the story of the Haloute family who have owned the business since it started some thirty-five years ago in the early 70’s. The Haloutes arrived from Trinidad, and built their business through a combination of hard work and smart moves. They have done well, and now have nice houses, boats and race-horses, but they have not just taken from Barbados – they have given much back in some of the best of ways.
While there is always something in the newspapers or on the radio about Chefette donating to this or that cause, most of what kindness the Haloute family does never makes it to the papers – because Mr. Haloute (senior) likes to do good things in a quiet manner. There are so many Bajans who have been helped by the Haloute family that one could not count them all. Whether it is providing a job to someone who really needs it, or giving a smaller supplier a chance, or maybe a single mother a second or third chance when she misses work because of an ill child, nobody could accuse the Haloute’s of not being of warm heart.
Now, the Haloutes (especially Mr. H Senior who is a “tough bird”) are also no push-overs – but they don’t hesitate to give a hand-up; not a hand-out. Without getting too specific, there are more than a few young Bajans who obtained their university degrees and professional careers with some encouragement and kindness from Mr. Haloute.
Shona heard that Mr. Haloute (Senior) was feeling unfairly last month, but is now feeling better. We all hope that he continues to feel better.
posted by Robert.
20 Comments
June 30, 2007 at 10:26 pm
OMG – wow, what a suck-up, I thought you guys did research? There are so many skeletons here – I can naime so many…
June 30, 2007 at 10:58 pm
What a joke!!
What BFP should do is interview some of the workers instead of sucking up to this family.
Find out why,with so many branches of a successful business,their workers are so badly treated and paid such meager wages.
If I didnt know better,I would swear this is a ploy to get away from the corruption this family is so involved in with the present government.
June 30, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Robert:
Is BFP on the take or what?
If you have the spare time to give Haloute(an Arab! thank god.) a generous puff can you, after eating your fee, complete the half finished laundering story, or are we all involved in the politics of inclusion.
June 30, 2007 at 11:52 pm
One clear recent example of when Bajans being at odds with this company was the Pepsi Vs. Coke thing.
Pepsi which was make in Barbados Vs. Coke made in T&T. I think was the order of things….
July 17, 2007 at 10:04 pm
BFP,
Have you seen the below email that is in circulation?_________________________________________-Dear all,
I had heard about this incident before receiving the email – and it only happed yesterday!
This was poorly handled and I am sure this is not the last we will hear of it.
A lesson for all in the food business and in the absolutely crucial realm of customer service.
Do have a read when you get a chance.
Regards
Subject: Fwd: FW: Chefette Warrens Branch Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Readdddddddddddddddd ,
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let you know that the contents of the
below email are true. I actually work with the young
lady that this happened too. I should also let you
know that Mr Haloute was directly notified of the
incident and needless to say his response was less
than satisfactory. Please pass this on to all of the
people you know that have come to rely on Chefette for
many of their meals. Lord only knows how many near
misses they may have had with a half bitten bug in
their food. I recently learned of a woman who found a
millipede in her roti. Their idea of compensation was
another roti! That ended in a rather hushed law suit.
We should no longer sit back and accept substandard
food, service or treatment. We work too hard for our
money and deserve better when we decide to spend it in
various food establishments.
>
>
>
> Dear Reader,
>
> I would like to inform you of an incident that
> occurred Monday, July 16,
>
> 2007 at the Chefette Warrens branch. One of my
> colleagues at work (who
> is
> by the way pregnant) had just purchased one order of
> macaroni pie, a
> macaroni salad and a small mauby and subsequently
> brought it back to her
>
> workstation to eat. However, on opening the
> container with the macaroni
> pie
> and taking her fork and rummaging through it, as is
> her custom with
> anything she eats (Thank God!), she was horrified to
> find a worm in her
> food and had to stifle the urge to vomit.
>
> Now you can imagine how upset she was and we too
> were very concerned, as
> a
> group of us had also just purchased lunch from the
> same branch. One
> other
> colleague was so traumatized that she immediately
> threw her pie into the
>
> garbage, not even wanting to risk opening the
> container.
>
> In support of our pregnant colleague, three of us
> accompanied her back
> to
> Chefette to return the food as she was also feeling
> a bit queasy/weak
> and
> is also by nature a very soft spoken and shy
> individual but we told her
> that it was unacceptable to do nothing regarding the
> food, as who knew
> how
> many persons had ordered food which contained these
> worms or even worse,
>
> particularly those ordering from the same batch of
> pie.
>
> On arriving at the branch we immediately went up to
> the Barbeque Barn
> section and asked to speak with the Manager on duty,
> a Mr. Orlando
> Harris.
> When he came to us we told him about the worm and
> then showed him and
> expressed how shocked we were and to his credit, he
> at least apologized.
>
> However, the problem came when we asked Mr. Harris
> how our colleague was
> to
> be reimbursed. Mr. Harris proceeded to tell us that
> he was willing to
> replace the pie with an item of the same value (i.e.
> a mere $6.00) from
> the
> menu but our colleague informed him that she does
> not normally eat the
> other things. We then asked if she could not be
> given a gift certificate
> to
> which he replied that he was not authorized to give
> these out.
>
> Following this we asked him to return the pie as he
> had taken it up from
>
> the counter to look at the worm. He blatantly
> refused to do this asking
> why
> we would want it back. We told him that it was
> rightfully still our
> colleague’s pie and if she wanted she could have it
> back. He told us
> again
> that he was not returning it to us (in essence
> stealing the pie) and
> promptly gave it to one of his staff to take into
> the back as quickly as
>
> possible.
>
> He went on to tell our colleague that she could
> return to Chefette at
> her
> convenience to redeem this offer of replacing a
> $6.00 macaroni pie with
> some other $6.00 alternative, and that he or his
> staff would be willing
> to
> fulfill this order but that he could give us no
> written confirmation or
> assurance of this, even though it would supposedly
> be entered into a
> database. This seemed quite ludicrous to us as he
> had not even taken our
>
> colleague’s name and only did so at my indication
> that he had not. On
> asking for the name of his manager, he responded by
> saying that he was
> the
> manager. I asked again this time asking if he was
> the manager for the
> entire Warrens branch to which he said yes even
> though he was only the
> manager on duty. I then took his name and he
> insisted on having mine for
>
> what reason I do not know and as such did not give
> him.
>
> We also found it quite strange that he had only
> suggested this option of
>
> having a $6.00 replacement and did not even offer to
> refund our
> colleague’s
> money as she had in fact returned her order (with
> the exception of the
> drink) and not just the macaroni pie or give her the
> option of ordering
> something else on the menu, regardless of the price
> due to the nature of
>
> her complaint. This was not a matter of just saying
> that the food did
> not
> taste good or was not warm etc., there was a worm in
> her food for
> goodness
> sake!
>
> We had to tell him that the best thing would be to
> return her money, as
> there was no satisfaction to be had by a $6.00
> replacement! So at the
> end
> of it we have to say that we do not think that the
> manner in which Mr.
> Orlando Harris responded to this particular incident
> was acceptable. I
> too,
> am a Manager and there are times when managers have
> to act and make
> effective decisions based on the issue at hand. Even
> if he did not know
> how
> to handle the particular situation he should have
> made an effort to at
> least consult with the other Manager on duty (who we
> only later found
> out
> was there after calling the head office to report
> the incident) or call
> one
> of his superiors, although he would have us believe
> he had none.
>
> In a time when our country is striving towards
> service excellence and
> with
> all the NISE initiatives prevalent; this is a sad
> situation for a
> leading
> fast food restaurant to be in. Already 12 of us from
> my company have
> agreed
> not to be customers of the Warrens branch anymore
> and although one might
>
> say that this means nothing it actually does.
> Customer service is of
> prime
> importance and greater businesses have been toppled
> as a result of poor
> customer service. Moreover, a food establishment
> should also be very
> concerned about health and food safety and we do not
> believe that this
> was
> a one-off incident with regards to this branch, as
> we’ve heard other
> horrifying reports having returned to our office.
>
> To the owners of Chefette and managers all around we
> want you to
> remember
> that happy customers might tell one or two people
> about a good
> experience
> but dissatisfied customers are usually the ones to
> tell the world!
>
>
> Regards,
>
> I am truly horrified to see that this has happened
> to your work
> colleague. Since Mr. Harris was not so NISE, I am
> giving you the names
> of people in the top of Chefette. Mr. Assad Haloute,
> Mr. Pelai Haloute
> and Ryan Haloute. Assad & Pelai are owners but I am
> not sure if they are
> involved in the day to day runnings of the company.
> Ryan on the other
> hand is a director (i forget which one tho). Please
> be sure to let me
> know what the outcome is when you speak to them. i
> am just sorry you did
> not take a picture of it to send to the nation
> because i would have
> gladly taken directly to the chief editor at the
> Nation for you. I
> personally have stopped patronizing them because I
> find that the service
> down right sucks and the ladies are rude to the
> utmost.
> I went to buy a meal some time back and i watched
> them make a milkshake
> and then wipe the aggetator off with the same wetex
> they wipe the
> counters off with. I have never bought another
> milkshake again. THen a
> friend, she had one and opened the cup to share it
> between her sons and
> as she poured out came a cockroach.
> I think we should circulate your email to as many
> people as we possibly
> can and show them that we the customers can be not
> to NISE to them. Also
> this should be sent to the Ministry of Health as I
> strongly believe that
> they do not do enough inspections of restaurants in
> Barbados.
July 17, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Coke made in Barbados vs Pepsi made in T&T.
Coke received Coca-Cola international award for mixture & taste.
Pepsi from T&T tastes awful.
July 18, 2007 at 2:13 am
bfp you express moral outrage at slot machines increasing in barbados. do you know about the haloute family’s links to slot machines and gambling in barbados? if you did you may not be praising him so much.
July 18, 2007 at 5:16 pm
straightalk
is there something wrong with being an arab? haloute is actually christian by religion.
July 18, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Yes the Haloutes and the Johnson boys are two of the biggest players in this island.
These were the main two players until Hallam Nicholls and Owing’s hands got itchy and they cashed in as well in this free for all these two will be the two largest players in this island.
July 18, 2007 at 8:20 pm
gambler:
It was an ironic remark.
I think Arabs in general are honest, friendly and delightful human beings.
The majority on this blog seem to not share my opinion.
Hence the irony.
July 18, 2007 at 8:30 pm
The only thing I can say about the Haloutes is that they are morons!
They have developed such a great product which they stubbornly refuse to export to other territories and then kick up a fuss whenever competition comes calling (McD’s, Subway, TGIF, etc) .
Thank goodness that McD’s made it in albeit for a short time. If it weren’t for them Chefette probably still wouldn’t have drive-thrus!
July 24, 2007 at 2:00 am
[...] I received in my inbox differs slightly from the one that BU posted. Have I stopped eating at Chefette? No, I have not and will not either. Why? Because as much as it does disgust and upset me, we [...]
November 20, 2007 at 5:42 pm
http://mrslindaterrel.tripod.com/fun/
I am amazed that the Caribbean most brilliant people would condone such health hazard condition to go un-check .Don’t you guys know how to boycott? Say are the owners of Chefette Bajans?
I luv this tiny Island….as a lad growing up my mom always said to ( moi)
good things come in small packages
April 17, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I arrived on Barbados and was staying in the Accra Beach Hotel, i wanted something quick to eat, so i went across the road to the Chefette Diner, i ordered 6 chicken nuggets,chips and a roll.
You might ask why am i bothering to complain on here? well its because i was so pissed off with the attitude of the staff, and the disgusting meal they served that i decided to post this.
The meal only cost me $7.16 and i claim that back from the company i work for. However like i stated the meal was “pure disgusting”
So be warned, if your staying in Barbados, dont waste you money eating at this place, Mc Donalds is Haute Cuisine compared to this place..
September 10, 2008 at 6:32 pm
i just heard that haloute is dead is this so and if so how did he died.
****************
BFP says,
Which one of the family? And how did you hear?
September 11, 2008 at 12:07 am
Haloute the dentist was very ill for a while and was expected to die at any time.
October 23, 2008 at 7:49 pm
hi . my best meal that i ever had is chaffett food.i was so happy with the food and with the price it is number one…..thank god for chaffett
October 23, 2008 at 8:29 pm
@ mirna: “my best meal that i ever had is chaffett food.i was so happy with the food and with the price it is number one…..thank god for chaffett
Wow. Sucks to be you…
December 11, 2008 at 9:34 am
We were in Barbados and went to the Rockley location and ordered a couple of bbq chicken burgers…took the staff there over 10 minutes to tell us that they were “out” of bbq chicken burgers and that we were going to have to make another selection…this was at LUNCH TIME. WTF??? If your out, let the frigging cashier know so that I can make another selection at that time not 10 freakin minutes later…you know what I’m saying.
December 11, 2008 at 3:30 pm
@ LuvBarbados
You should have ordered 2 Banks beers while you were waiting.