IN 2006 Randy Murrell became unemployed.
With a young daughter to support and a household to run, he knew quite well that staying at home with fingers crossed and praying a job would knock at his door, was not an option.
That’s when he came up with the idea to develop his entrepreneurial traits. Actually, while at home one day contemplating his next move, a past manager from his former job came by to give him a little encouragement.
“He came to me and told me straight and plain, ‘You know what gine on, you know how to hustle, you know how to make it’,” Murrell recounted.
That was all the motivation he needed.
In spite of having no formal training or experience in the food industry, apart from several food and safety courses at the Barbados Community College as well as the mentorship of his brother, chef Rommell Haynes, Murrell established his own eatery. And from that day has been known as the “Breakfast Boss”.
Speaking to the DAILY NATION from his base in Reed Street, The City, Murrell explained that contrary to what his name would suggest, the Breakfast Boss does not serve breakfast in the traditional sense of eggs, bakes and bacon.
His name is almost a long-running joke that began at one of his first gigs at the Brewster’s Road Crew (BRC) night limes, then located at Festival Village.
“When I started I hit the road with porridge. I went to them [BRC] with the concept to introduce porridge into their menus and you would be surprised about the response. When I first started out it was slow but when it picked up, I had to do something like ten gallons a night.”
Murrell’s porridges contained a combination of ingredients like: linseed, sea moss, sago, oats and barley. According to him, one of his customers at the BRC event gave him the moniker, saying the porridge “strengthened” her knees. After that, his cereal meals became highly successful and a must at the event as word quickly spread about his unique take on fete food.
After the Crop Over season was through and the fetes were done, Murrell still needed an avenue to push his product and make money. So daily for a few years, he would drive around to various taxi stands, hair salons, barber shops, other businesses or wherever people were.
All the while, daughter Kionna Layne remained that one force that kept him going even when business slowed.
With a smile, Murrell recalled: “When things slowed a bit, I didn’t. I turned around and advanced to food starting with sandwiches. Then I up my sandwiches to pastries – a line of salt fish and plantain, beef, ham and cheese, lentils, gran burger and I just moved from there. I started doing chicken wraps – that was a big seller – but then the market slowed so I eased off of it.
“I find that the day wasn’t as healthy so I started working on night with the same porridge. I started going by the strip clubs and arcades and just get my hustle on.”
In 2010, Crop Over rolled around and with it another dimension to his small business. Laughing loudly, the former student of Ellerslie Secondary remembered going to fetes and seeing corn soup. Then he had a sudden insight.
“I was like this wasn’t a Bajan thing. So I shift from that and it was like, I went back to the old time days. I went to my grandmother and asked her about what types of soups we used to cook when she was young and she told me. She never taught me how to make them, but I went to St John and learned.
“I got some friends in Edgecliff, and I used to go up there all the time, because the people in the country very friendly. I used to go in everybody’s house in St John. So I used to watch when the men cooking and they got their wood fire, a big saucepan, throw everything inside and that is how I work from there. That is how the soups started,” he said.
His first soup was made with dolphin head. It was delicious, he said, almost heavenly, especially when intensified by fish melts. Then he introduced cow heel soup, an instant favourite.
“That was received like something else because they outdo the porridge. When I was doing ten gallons of porridge a night and I had to reduce to five, then probably a one or two gallons because people then started to go towards the soups. The first time Brewster’s Road went down to Kensington, people were going crazy.
“From there I started doing it on a seasonal basis and everybody knew me. Then certain groups saw my idea and came to me. Passion Network, Colorz Entertainment, Garden Stars . . . all these groups just had me as their caterer. It was really good to see people recognise me for my food. I can’t walk the street in peace without somebody hollering Breakfast Boss or somebody blaming me for a pregnancy,” he said, laughing.
“To me I felt great to see I was doing something that was highlighting authentic Bajan food. I got people from all the way overseas here to try different foods. They would have wanted to try different food – Bajan food – but they couldn’t because we Bajans decide we national dish is macaroni pie and chicken.”
Although Murrell declined to reveal the secret to his delicious home-grown soups, when pressed, he said the base included barley, lentil peas, pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes, green bananas, okras and of course, a soup is not a soup without good ole Bajan dumplings.
Ten years ago when Murrell started, never in his wildest dreams did he envisage that his soups and porridges would be demanded by local celebrities like reigning Party Monarch Lil Rick, Mikey, Blood, DJ Jon Doe or Peter Ram. For that matter, he didn’t even think it was plausible for him to cook next to acclaimed chef Craig Brathwaite or meet renowned chefs and Food Network stars Anne Burrell and Marcus Smauelsson, but he has. For him, these were but a few of the memorable accomplishments that have resulted from his modest idea.
Murrell said he was far from being contented. In fact, as he works to get his transportation back on the food, his next voyage is in the area of natural juices.
The 39-year-old recently introduced a line of juices and thus far they have been selling quite well, particularly with women, he said. He added that since there have been a number of publicised premature deaths, Barbadians are attempting to eat healthier, therefore cutting out sodas and “energy drinks” for more natural alternatives.
His line, which are made from various tree barks and contain no sweeteners, include such exotic names as Granny Backbone, Panty Borer and Capadulla, which he called “From Zero to 60”.
“To me, this business is a lot of ups and downs. I like cooking, that is my thing. I like when people stand up or sit down and eat my food and say ‘wow’, and go back and tell people them just eat something from the ‘Breakfast Boss’ and this man hard. That is how I get that drive to do what I do,” he added. (SDB Media)
