He has cooked thousands of meals for tourists over the past four decades.
Now he says he is prepared not only to continue to serve the tourist market, but also satisfy the appetite of Barbadians.
Speaking to BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY from his Chez Max restaurant along St Lawrence Main Road, Worthing, Christ Church, chef Max Benz noted there was always room for improvement in the local food and beverage industry.
Benz opened his restaurant in December 2012, after leaving the Savannah Hotel, where he had worked as executive chef for 11 years. It was not until April 19 that he had the official opening.
“Our industry is most likely the one that produces the most money and tourism is definitely what we have to look after,” he said. “But right now there has to be something done for the average person to stimulate the economy.
“It is very hard when you don’t do anything for your local people. It is great to do something for tourists but I do believe your people that live here should be taken care of first. You have to be able to supply something that the local market wants to take part in as well,” added Benz.
The Switzerland-born 64-year-old, who has worked in England, Sweden and Canada, said it was always his dream to become a chef and run his own business.
The St Philip resident admitted, though, that after opening his restaurant he did not know what to expect. However, so far the reception has been good, he said.
“Most of the people that we get right now are locals. Tourist season finished for us around Easter. Tourist season was actually good . . . . April has been terrible but I think we now have to make the changes of coming from tourist season to local,” he said.
Lamenting that a number of shops and restaurants would have closed over the years, Benz said he remained confident that his business would do well as market conditions improved.
Besides offering the nightly meals, Benz said in order to keep business afloat and attract more people to dine out, he had already started to offer other services.
“It may not be a good time economically to open a business, but if it works now it will work anyway . . . . The economy is going to get better at one time or another and so will the life of Barbadians. This is now where we have to look at doing parties, weddings and whatever to drive business,” he noted.
“When business is slow the overhead remains the same and you still need to produce what you need to produce. That is why it is important to look at alternative things in operating a restaurant,” he added.
The chef of 45 years told BUSINESS AUTHORITY he was not worried about competition. In fact, Benz said he believed his long track record in the sector gave him an advantage “of doing the right thing”.
“You will look at things that they are selling and you are looking at things that people are expecting to have on the menu but then you also have to do a little of your own thing,” he said.
“You must be able to come up with certain things that other people don’t have. One example is having the curried shrimp with cou cou as opposed to the salt fish or flying fish and Cou Cou. I have a little twist in what I do.
“I don’t look at the people around us as competition. I think the more restaurants you have, the more versatility there is and the more people will come.”
Chez Max currently employs ten people.
Benz said one of the keys to doing well in this industry was interacting with the guests in an effort to know what food they were willing to spend their money on in a restaurant.
