MINISTER of Social Care, Constituency Empowerment, Urban and Rural Development Chris Sinckler has lauded the management of Chefette Restaurants Limited for their insight and vision, even in the face of recession.He was delivering the feature address at the official opening of Chefette’s restaurant at Black Rock, St Michael, its 14th outlet in the island.“The construction and operation of this spanking new facility in many ways represents a timely and critical intervention for Barbados in a period filled with challenges, yet pregnant with opportunities. It sends a signal of strength to a nation and a light of hope to a community,” Sinckler stressed.He said that at a national level, while policymakers and planners, trade unions, private sector representatives and the wider civil society were trying to come up with the appropriate mix of policies to deal with the effects of the “most virulent” global economic recession in our times, Chefette’s “tenacity and pure business acumen” led the restaurant chain to “buck” the trend of declining domestic and foreign investment.“While others are timid, you have been bold. While others were busy preaching doom and gloom, your determination was being exhibited in architectural drawings, bricks and mortar, machinery and manpower,” he stated.“It would therefore hardly be an overstatement if I were to posit that the demonstrable impact of your intervention within the national economy at this juncture goes beyond even the practical and quantifiable commercial value of your investment,” he told the management of Chefette.Sinckler said Barbados’ economy was as good an investment prospect as most anywhere in this region or beyond, despite the “hit from global recession”.“Surely it cannot be business as usual either in Government, the private sector, or the labour market, but the very basic fundamentals which have characterised and underpinned our tremendous success in the post-Independence period are still very present today,” he added.“When I consider what this wonderful company has done over the years, I see a number of striking similarities between your [Chefette’s] success and that of Barbados as a whole.”Among these, he said, was Chefette’s vision which had been built on a clear understanding of, and massive investment in, the value of a strong family unit.
