CHEF ARLENE GREAVES-EASTMOND says she is “wrapping myself around Barbados”.
And as she joins thousands of Barbadians here and in the diaspora in celebrating its 49th year of Independence today, she is doing her part to promote greater use of local products, which she said adds “fresh flavour” to meals.
She owns the Britton’s Hill, St Michael-based Eric’s Soul Food, named after her oldest son Alexander Eric, who she said was one of the inspirations for the business.
Her herb infused cooking oils, flavoured mayonnaises and fruit infused rums are only just the beginning of what the businesswoman intends to do. This includes the expansion of her line of mayonnaise.
“I find it is something that is multi-purpose. You can have it as a dip, a spread or break it down and have it as a sauce. It goes well with fish and meat. It adds extra flavour to what you are eating,” she said.
Her love for cooking started with her grandmother Louise Greaves guiding her as a tot. It continued as she moved from St Ursula’s to Barbados Community College, where she did an associate degree in Culinary Arts; and for the last 17 years, she has been involved in the food business, owning different restaurants along the way and working in different places.
“While working in some villas, I had to create things from scratch. I’ve always been in the creative mode, always creating different sauces and I have no idea how I come up with them but I created them. I came up with the idea that instead of me working two jobs, I would put a product on the market. So far, I have products in Barbadiana, in hotels, and it’s working, slowly but surely. It’s tiny but it’s working,” she told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
“My biggest inspiration is my customers and sometimes a person would say they would like to have something to try at home because they don’t know how it is done in the restaurant. The infused oils are like a piece of me in a bottle and they can try it at home. I would use some of the oils as a marinade for fish or for steak. This is my way of bottling my thoughts and putting it out there.”
In addition to running her fledgling business which started earlier this year, Greaves-Eastmond is also the head chef of a popular spot in St Lawrence Gap, she is the mother of three and she is going into schools voluntarily to encourage secondary school students to express themselves and create products.
She said that before starting her small operation she would give the products as gifts or use them when she catered for events, and when she decided to go a step further, including branding the items, she “purposely did not get a loan”, electing instead to fund it out of pocket.
“I didn’t want to have an extra bill and not be sure how I was going to pay it. So what I did was take some money out of my pay. I took small steps, buying bottles one week, bought oils another week and I started buying spices one by one. Then I started boiling them to see how they would work at first and, I will tell you, I burnt it,” she said.
“I was playing with the oil, had my thermometer there and it decided to burn the spices and I had to start over but I didn’t mind. Part of failure is that you get success,” she added.
As she progresses, Greaves-Eastmond said at this same time next year she would like to have 50 products on the market.
“I already have 20 and it will be a pleasure to give a part of my creativity to people. The vinaigrettes are still in production mode and if they are not out by the end of the year, they will be by January,” she added.
Noting that it was “very important” to use Bajan products as well as those from the region, she said to do so meant the money was staying in Barbados, in addition to “supporting other small businesses like myself”.
While the businesswoman enjoys operating her business and has hopes of expanding in the future, she also still enjoys being a chef. She said she would continue working to achieve her goals but would take baby steps to achieve her goals. (Green Bananas Media)