Caryn Jameson has spent many years working in the hospitality industry, so when she decided to invest time and money into her own tea house, it was with a wealth of knowledge and experience to back it up.
Jameson told Business Guardian, good hospitality should be one of the pillars of any restaurant, and it is at the foundation of her St Augustine-based Serendipitea.
“Hospitality is something that’s very near and dear to my heart. In Trinidad, our hospitality industry is not the best, and that’s a pet peeve of mine.”
She said her staff is trained, and is constantly reminded about the importance of making customers feel remembered, seen and appreciated.
“That is what I am looking for. I tell them, obviously, we have to serve delicious food, that must look good. But what we are really going after is giving people an experience. When people come here, I want them to say, “Wow! I came and I was in a sanctuary. I felt at home. I got to de-stress. I got to forget some of my problems. I liked the scent.’ All these little things are very important.”
Serendipitea was opened on January 18, 2024. Jameson and her husband, Kevern, had bought the property years before and had used the downstairs portion to house his business offices.
“He’s a quantity surveyor and project manager…But we have a lot of the guys who are out on site, etc. We didn’t need this huge footprint, so basically upstairs was empty.”
They eventually decided to use the space to open a tea shop, and got as far as registering the business before all plans ground to a halt in 2020. After the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted, they head-hunted a chef, hired staff and jumped in.
“And I say jumped in at the deep end because we thought to ourselves, ‘We have a business plan; we will build up slowly and we will get to be known in the area.’ But it actually took off pretty fast and we were kind of overwhelmed because there were crowds from the start. We were conservative with our projections, because I had worked in restaurants before and I know that the margins are slim and that it takes time to build up.”
The tea house offers indoor dining, as well as outdoor dining on a veranda that runs along the front and one side of the building.
“We invested a lot of money and a lot of time into this. It used to be someone’s home, and we kept the bones of the structure, but we gutted it and stripped it right down. Then we had to outfit it to look and feel like we wanted it to.”
Senendipitea employs approximately 17 people at any given time, with most of the front house staff being university students.
“People who are transitional. You come and work here for a bit, because I know this is not your end goal.”
But whether short- or long-term, Jameson said she also prioritises creating a healthy working environment for all her staff.
“I need people to have good mental health…We’re not a family, we’re a group of employees working together with a common goal and vision. I believe, for example, that if you are disturbed on the inside and you’re cooking, that is going to somehow come out of you. I’ve been to restaurants where I can’t put my finger on it, but something is off about the food.”
She said all her members of staff get a good remuneration package, a good working environment, and proper uniforms.
“And we talk, we touch base with you, but you have to remember too, you are here to work…It’s a team effort, so when a customer comes and says, ‘I had a great time, the food was great, I loved how in here smelled, I loved the music playing in the background,’ it is a whole set of people who are responsible for that experience.”
Jameson worked in the Bahamas —a tourist destination—for a number of years, and her experience there, when it came to hospitality, was benchmark.
“I did my postgraduate studies in the Bahamas in hotel and restaurant management, and my background is in accounting. There are many, many restaurants from which people can choose to eat. I’ve worked at a few of them and you know you really have to be on your A-game.”
She explained that hospitality doesn’t just start with your order, but from the moment you set foot on the property. She used bits and pieces of her experience along the way, and created a blueprint for her own business model.
“I know what I don’t like, so along my own journey, I would see what I didn’t like from my own experience with going to other establishments, both here in Trinidad and abroad. My business model morphed from my experience.”
Serendipitea is giving returns on investments, and Jameson is satisfied that her vision has been realised. And although people have approached her to open other branches, she believes she and her team are still on a learning curve and prefers to take things slowly.
“I have so many plans for this property and my departments. I would prefer to do that first, before jumping off and biting off more than I can chew.”
But, she hinted, a tea house in Tobago is a strong possibility.
