Senior Reporter
andrea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt
Once a popular fixture in downtown Port-of-Spain’s food and nightlife scene, D’ Bocas Restaurant and Bar has closed its doors after 37 years of operations in the capital, citing declining sales, rising taxes and persistent post-pandemic challenges.The closure was announced via social media, where the business also revealed plans to transition the D’ Bocas brand into a food-focused franchise in the future. Owner Laird Agard said the decision followed years of struggle to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by sharply increased taxes linked to bar operations and a 50 per cent decline in sales.
“We started as a restaurant in St James 40 years ago. It’s always been our business model,” Agard said. “For the last 35-plus years, it’s been a restaurant and a bar. So the food is not new to us.” D’ Bocas later relocated to the Town Centre Mall in Port-of-Spain, where it became known as both a dining and social destination.
However, Agard said business conditions in the capital have deteriorated significantly in recent years.
“Port-of-Spain as a whole, for the last three or four years post-pandemic, has been very difficult,” he said. “People don’t want to come to town. That is not only alcohol and food. Business has declined across the board.”
He pointed to crime concerns, vagrancy, break-ins, and competition from entertainment hubs outside the capital as factors discouraging foot traffic.
More recently, Agard stated that increased government-imposed taxes and duties had made the bar business financially unsustainable. He cited a 100 per cent increase in duties on alcohol, a doubling of annual bar licence renewal fees, higher amusement and gaming taxes and a general decline in business. What has happened is prices have soared and customers who would normally come four times a week now come once,” he said.
“Our sales have declined to 50 per cent of what they were.” Agard said, adding that fixed costs such as rent and wages remained unchanged despite the drop in revenue.
“We pay substantial rent, and we have 14 workers to pay. The bills remain the same, but the income is not there,” he said.
Agard stressed that public perceptions of bar profitability often do not reflect the reality of the industry.
“People see a beer selling for $50 and think bars are making money,” Agard said.
“But to make $5,000, you have to sell 34 cases of beer, and that can’t even pay one worker. That is the reality of bar economics. The margins are very thin, and it is not an easy industry.”
Agard confirmed the bar has already closed, saying continued operations would have resulted in daily financial losses.
“We had to make that hard decision. If we stayed open, we would just be losing thousands of dollars every day,” he said.
He emphasised that the closure was driven entirely by the bar side of the business and not food operations.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with food. The food has always been constant,” he said, pointing out that “this decision is strictly based on what is happening in the bar industry.”
Agard said limited operating hours for food sales in Port-of-Spain made it impossible to offset declining bar revenue.
Looking ahead, he said the D’ Bocas brand will pivot back to its roots as a food-only business, with plans to open new locations across Trinidad.
“We started off as a seafood restaurant in St James, and we are going back to that model with various outlets,” Agard said.
Reflecting on the wider sector, he noted that many bars were closed for up to 18 months during the pandemic.
“Bars were told it would take three to five years to recover fully from COVID,” he said. “To add these increases now, has made the industry even more difficult.”
