Sbarro Belize Officially Opens Its Doors in Belize City

Guess what! Belize just got a slice of New York! Sbarro, the legendary pizza joint from Brooklyn that’s been serving up cheesy goodness for sixty-eight years, has landed at mile three and a half on the Phillip Goldson Highway. They kicked things off with a grand opening event on Tuesday night, where lucky guests got to dig into their hand-made New York pizzas. News Five’s Paul Lopez was there to give us the scoop. Here’s his report.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Sbarro Pizza has officially landed in Belize! Adding to its impressive tally of six hundred and eighty locations across twenty-eight countries, Belize is the newest stop on their global pizza tour. They’re all set to win hearts, and stomachs, with their hand-made New York pizzas.

 

Sbarro Pizza Customer #1

“One word, delicious. The flavor, richness, texture, everything in one.”

 

Sbarro Pizza Customer #2

“Delicious.”

 

Sbarro Pizza Customer #3

“Amazing.”

 

These are just some of the reviews from guests at the grand opening celebration on Tuesday night. There was no shortage of samples. The menu is extensive. Located at mile three and a half, Sbarro is whipping up its delicious pizzas from inside Publics Mini Mart, right next to Transparent BPO. Jenniffer Corzo, the CEO of Sbarro Belize, says they’re here to add even more flavor to Belize’s culinary scene.

 

Jennifer Corzo, C.E.O, Sbarro Belize

“It has been a journey but we are be happy to have a new franchise here in Belize because we want to enrich the culinary of Belize.”

 

Paul Lopez

“What makes Sbarro stand out from other pizzas we may be familiar with or tried in our lifetime?”

 

Jennifer Corzo

“Of course, the quality, the quality of our ingredients, the quality of our final products and our installations too.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Are there challenges we have had to overcome along the way to get to where we are today?”

 

Jennifer Corzo

“Yes of course, the importing of the ingredients, because we bring everything from outside.”

 

Well, almost everything. Corzo explained that the restaurant sources its vegetables and flour locally. But, in order to maintain certain quality standards, franchises like Sbarro are required to import most of their ingredients. The high cost of importation is arguably one of the primary reasons why franchises do not last in Belize. Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner welcomed the franchise and contends that central government intervention is required to address this issue.

 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“We need more, we need more franchises and I feel excited with respect to the franchise taking footing in Belize City. We dah the commercial city with over seventy thousand residents living in Belize City and additionally we have thousands of people coming in to the city each and every day to work in our city. We have to make the incentives competitive for these franchise in terms of cost of production. It has to be a situation where the importation for the products that will make the end product, you have to give people some run in terms of what you charge with importation and that sort of thing.”

 

Eight talented Belizeans are now part of the team at the Publics and Sbarro mini-mart. And guess what? The chef is a local star too, trained specifically to whip up Sbarro’s famous pizzas. Sbarro Belize isn’t stopping here—they’re already plotting their next moves to Placencia Village and San Pedro Town.

 

Jennifer Corzo

“We are happy to be here. We are waiting and we open the doors tomorrow. We want all Belizean families to please try our products because we don’t jus have pizzas, we have strombolis and bread sticks.”

 

Reporter

“Do you feel your prices are competitive? What are the prices like for your pizza?”

 

Jennifer Corozo

“The prices, the whole pie is between fifty and sixty dollars. We sell the slices too and the slices between ten and thirteen dollars.”

 

Christopher Coye, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance

“We have had challenges with franchises in Belize, but I am very confident that this one will work and be very successful.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez