From a single family business in South East Trinidad to a diversified group with interests spanning retail, real estate, hospitality and commercial services, the S&S Persad Group is marking 35 years in business while preparing for its next chapter.
While the family-owned company is best known for its strong presence in the retail sector through its chain of supermarkets, Director Sunita Persad said, at a cocktail event over the weekend, that the business has steadily expanded its interests over the years, charting a new path for the group.
“Today S&S Persad Group has interests across retail, real estate, warehousing, hospitality, corporate accommodation, commercial and industrial services. Over the last decade we also developed residential and commercial real estate interest in Canada and the US. Tomorrow there may be others, and we will continue to explore them thoughtfully.”
The group’s core value has remained intact, giving rise to a philosophy ‘Loyal to Local,’ where it supports local producers, suppliers and entrepreneurs, even partnering with the Ministry of Trade for its ‘Buy Local’ campaign.
The move was championed by Senior Trade Specialist at the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Tourism, Aurelia Bruce.
“A supermarket is where the idea of ‘buy local’ becomes real to consumers. It is where awareness can translate into action, where someone sees a locally produced item, considers it, tries it and ultimately chooses to put it in their basket and by doing so chooses Trinidad and Tobago.”
Global Lead, Contractor Safety for JLL, a company that supports BP’s on-land facilities with respect to food, Tyrel Melville, celebrated the quality of the group’s output, reach and the ease of doing business with them.
“S&S has an enduring quality of making the difficult look easy, and as a result of that, you could tell by the way that they not only care about their output but they care contractually, as well as in a professional capacity, that the output matters to a world-class level.”
The cocktail event honoured S&S Persad founders Sharma and Savitri Persad, whose values of discipline, hard work, respect for others and gratitude helped shape the company’s success.
The celebration also paid tribute to the employees, communities and loyal customers whose support and contributions have been integral to the company’s growth over the years.