SHEEREKA Ali’s parents wanted their daughter to be an educator. After graduating from secondary school, she went on to study for an education degree.
She became a teacher to please her parents, but that was not her dream.
This university graduate chucked her job as a teacher to explore her dream of becoming a restaurateur.
Not an alarming action, considering since she was age ten, her family migrated to Colorado, in the United States, where they delved into the food industry as their primary source of income. They managed their own food business while running franchises for top brands such as Baskin-Robbins.
“Food is in my DNA,” Ali said in an interview with the Newsday.
After her father died, her mother closed the business and relocated to Florida.
Having inherited a passion for food from her parents, combined with a desire to return home, Ali, the mother of ten-year-old Rayhan, with her husband Wayne Bridgemohansingh, searched for options to incorporate both as a viable economic venture.
Resettling in Trincity on her return to TT, at the same time East Gates Mall was being built, Ali thought this was the perfect opportunity to establish her own post-covid business.
She applied for a spot in the mall to vend Mexican food and was successful.
[caption id="attachment_1099527" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Mexican ambassador Victor Hugo Morales cuts an avocado to declare the second Guacamole Mexican Grill at Gulf City opened. Looking on in delight is owner Sheereka Ali.-[/caption]
Living in Colorado, she explained, she fell in love with the menu served at the Chipotle Mexican Grill, which was started in Denver in 1993 by Sam Ellis and now boasts of a chain of over 3,000 restaurants in some 500 locations.
In her opinion, “The Mexican food was the closest thing to Trinidad food. The food: the guacamole and taco shell, reminiscent of a good Trini sada roti and zaboca (avocado), the rice bowls with servings of meats, beans and veggies are similar to a Sunday lunch.”
She said with the growing Venezuelan population in TT and other diverse people who make up the landscape, she felt this was an opportune time explore this business option.
Two years ago, Guacamole Mexican Grill was born at East Gates, becoming the only restaurant there to serve tacos, salad bowls, rice bowls, burritos, quesadillas, and nachos with toppings of salsa, cheese, guacamole and sauces other than the usual garlic sauce, ketchup and barbecue sauces. It was a huge hit.
About a year into the business at East Gates, Ali said, Gulf City Mall’s executive chairman Sean Hadeed and his daughter visited, had a meal from her outlet and a week later called and told her what she had to offer was exactly what Gulf City Mall wanted.
“I had no intention to go down this far, but realising that San Fernando was fast becoming a ‘foodie destination’ with an explosion of street foods on Cross Crossing, I made the journey.
“When I came to Gulf City, I found it to be fantastic. The management was fantastic, and it was just perfect, the wa
