Over 30 years ago a mother made a painful decision and left her nine children in a one-room shack in Kitty in search of a better life in the US.
Viburt Bernard displays some freshly baked pine tarts at his Liberty Avenue bakery.
Today, nine years after she left this earth, what she started in her Brooklyn home is now a chain of restaurants that provide a piece of Guyana to homesick Guyanese through its food and pastries.
Sybil’s Bakery & Restaurants – two located in Jamaica, Queens and another in Brooklyn – are widely popular for their breads and pastries and if you throw in some pepperpot, cook-up with fried fish and dhal and rice you would understand why Guyanese in New York flock these restaurants.
“I think what keeps me going is pride, knowing from where we came and how hard my mother worked. To keep it going in her memory is really what keeps me going,” Viburt Bernard, better known as ‘Cookie’, told Stabroek News in a recent interview.
As soon as one enters his Liberty Avenue, Richmond Hill, New York, restaurant the aroma that greets you immediately brings thoughts of Guyana to your mind.
Viburt Bernard and his bakers strike a pose in his bakery.
Speaking to Stabroek News in his office located above the restaurant, Bernard related that the woman behind the success story of the restaurant chain is Sybil Bernard-Kerrutt who migrated in 1969 leaving her nine children behind.
‘… with just a grip’
“She left Guyana with just a grip [suitcase] you know… leaving her children behind, it must have been hard. I was her second oldest and I was just 11 years old so you could imagine how young the others were,” Bernard said with a faraway smile on his face.
At night, sometimes when he lies in his bed he would remember that Kitty home from where they and think that God has been good to them.
“You see that [pointing to a photograph of the one-room shack they lived in], that is what we lived in… I burnt it down only last year because the neighbours said the junkies had taken it over but that is where we come from,” he said.
And although the house was tiny Bernard said they shared it with a woman named ‘Miss Baby’ as she had nowhere else to go and his mother did not have the heart to put her out.
The ladies behind the finger-licking good cuisine at Sybil’s on Liberty Avenue.
He recalled that when his mother left them there was no adult around but she had to make “that sacrifice.” In the end his younger siblings were taken in by their grandparents and he and three other brothers went to Linden to work in their uncle’s bakery.
“We have been blessed by the Lord,” Viburt said, adding that three years after his mother migrated she sent for him and his older brother and as soon as he arrived he attended school and also worked to help his mother make ends meet.
One year later his other siblings arrived in New York and it was not easy going for the family of ten.
Surviving on food stamps
Shortly after his other siblings arrived his mother lost her job and the family was forced to survive on food stamps. (Commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, the federal-assistance program provides assistance to low-and no-income people and families living in the US.)
Owner Viburt Bernard and his counter staff stand behind some of the best Guyanese food on Liberty Avenue.
His mother was a good cook and some of her sons were good bakers so following a visit to Canada where their relatives were selling freshly baked products to their neighbours the family decided to follow suit.
Selling bread
In 1976 they started making bread and pastries which they sold to people around and sometimes their relatives would take some to their neighbourhoods and sell.
“It was out of desperation really that we started doing that and no one would have thought that it would turn out to be what it is today,” Bernard told this newspaper.
Just two years after they started their business at home the very first Sybil’s bakery was opened on Church Avenue, Brooklyn and it is still standing there today some 30 years later.
“My mother use to throw box-hand you know and that is how she get to open that bakery,” he said.
Today, Bernard is proud of his very own restaurant that he opened 20 years ago on Liberty Avenue where he employs some 30 staff.
“Everything is done here, all the baking, cooking everything and it is all Guyanese,” he boasted.
He feels that his staff members have a lot to do with his business being strong because as he puts it, “I have been blessed with very good staff. God has sent me some good people.”
While all are not Guyanese most of them are and they represent the six races from the Land of Many Waters.
Liberty Avenue and its surroundings better known as ‘Little Guyana’ and Sybil’s combine to afford Guyanese a nostalgic feeling, with the restaurant in Guyana’s national colours and the food being ‘just like back home’.
“What makes me proud is to see people waiting for 15 and 20 minutes and when they are finally served to see that smile on their face is really, really good,” Bernard said as he gave Stabroek News a tour of his bakery and kitchen.
From the time the restaurant opens its door in the morning to closing time at night there is always a stream of customers, Bernard said, but with the economic recession business has “slowed a bit. “But I have not laid off any staff, I keep my staff because when business going good I making money so if it goes a little bad sometimes I will take the loss… my staff have family and so on,” he said.
He is not too worried about the economic difficulties though since he is confident that the community needs the service he provides with Guyanese always longing “for a piece of Guyana and anyway they could grab it they would.”
Bernard feels that even after he would have departed this earth his business would continue. Probably through his children? He would not say.
“We bring them [the customers] a chunk of Guyana you see and they long for it,” he added.
But he also noted that it is not only the Guyanese community they cater for as generally people from the Caribbean flock the restaurant.
“Imagine we sell Cream Soda from Guyana, you know how people long for that?” Bernard remarked, with a little laugh “and then we have real tennis roll and cheese and egg ball, black pudding and souse.
“When you walk into Sybil’s here you are getting to see the beauty of Guyana and I want to give my customers the best, we are talking quality.”
This month makes it nine years since the woman behind the Sybil’s chain of restaurants passed away and Bernard said he is happy to know that should his mother be looking down she would be proud to see that what she had started is continuing.
CONGRATULATIONS Vibert my friend! Awesome dhal puri! Amazing staff! God bless you and your staff. Cheers!!
Congratulations, indeed! Nicely written. Am a regular at two of the three restaurants. However, even though it was never said in the article, let me say that Sybil also got help from her brother in Canada (Norman Sue), who has a bakery and chowmein business there, and her other brother in Guyana, Neville Sue, (now dead) who eventually opened up his own bakery about 10 minutes drive from Sybil’s on Church Avenue. It was always about family…even the extended family of uncles, aunts, cousins, etc..
If Ms Alleyne has the time she can also talk with other Guyanese business persons in New York who are doing well in business circles. Not all Guyanese businesses are related to drugs; some have achieved success the legit but hard way. People don’t like to blow their own horns, so let’s help them.
This is a well run establishment. Color blind services from the start. Pity they could not do this in gy.
Cookie keep up the good work. I wish you all the best in the future. I met President Jagdeo and his entourage in your kitchen two Labor Days ago…
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE eating at Sybil’s. The food is freshly prepared and delicious. Makes you feel right at home.
Please open a branch in Long Island. Always have to drive out to Queens. My brother-in-law complained bitterly when my sister was pregnant. All she wanted was from Sybil’s.
I thought , by way of previous comments, that you Guyanese don’t eat out.
The one on Hillside Avenue needs to be revamped. Service is terrible and the food not as tasty as the one on Liberty. Management is lax – badly in need of an upgrade!!!!!!
I agree. Sybils need to get back to basic. Their food has become mediocre. The name is now what draws the customers. There are more ‘authentic’ and ‘down home’ cooking from other restaurants in the area.
YO!!!
{{WE}}
Mark the time yea::::
30 years ago she left:::for a better life:::
nat 17 years ago::::::
evileyes,when Sybil left Guyana,it was the days when decent people went to the US to work hard(not do drugs)and things were still good until SOME people made migration obnoxious when they saw an opportunity where they could blame the then(PNC) government and apply for REFUGEE STATUS in the good old US of A,in the meantime some Americans were shedding their blood sweat and tears for what a lot of Guyanese are enjoying today,God bless Martin Luther King and others,many Guyanese come Americans don’t even care about all that,such a shame!Continue the good work Vyburt…..like yuh new name though!
The point is, people are still desperately leaving and the vast majority continue to be PPP supporters despite their own government being in power for the past 17 years.
The Canadian refugee system is clogged with PPP supporters presenting stories that on its face sound “incredible” just so they can gain refugee status.
Wattack!!! Dig it in e there Guy123, that should put that little twit in its place for a little while. lol.
evileyes, you talking bunk. 30 years ago guyanese would leave guyana and return when the place got cold. unlike now they are staying amidst the inclement weather because of jagdeo. i don’t want to repeat what guy123 said but he is right. my mother went to guyana before that time and she found it enchanting. i was conceived in guyana but borned in the us. i have help duel citizenship to honor both my father and my mother. many guyanese i know came to america 30 years ago to work in all kinds of menial jobs and in the nursing profession, they did not claim political persecution to get refugee status. things were good 30 years ago but like most guyanese, they never gave up an opportunity to increase their income with honest work. sybil falls into this catogory.
Guy123:
Got bad news for you bro:::It was the very country you now resides in (UK) and the same US of A that wronged Guyanese people:Dont tell me you have forgotten that:
Their muppet was called Burnham::::
And Martin Luther King should bless Ghandi::
noice name huh???Glad you like ehehehehehehehhe:::::
Bismattie Ramsawak:
The Canadian refugee system is clogged with PPP supporters…
Did you really said this in your response to my blog?
Nahhhhhhhhhhh….hmmmmmmm….
Now, you will try telling me that you worked at and with the Canadian Refugee Board:::
Because you have such inside info to know that its {PPP Supporters}
Really????
Then count this for me please:::
PNC used to run out so many PPP supporters back in their days…Right?
PPP took power, more PPP supporters are being run out of Guyana then ever before..Right?
Then tell me tell all how many PPP supporters there were/are in Guyana since PPP wining elections after elections since 92:::
Last election by a whopping 56 percent:Right?:
Do the math for me please since I dont know to count and I have no inside info like you do.
I would like to thank the PNC for running me out of guyana 32 years ago. I now live better than most Americans. I have more assets and earn more here in the US than I would have if I had stayed in Guyana. I am better off than 98% of Guyanese in Guyana.
marabunta
duh gon sting nuff ah dem hey ehehehehehehhe….
watch out for de mob rule on de attack if yuh keep this up…
ehehehehehehehehehehehehe
I too…meh glad me run..but nat fram Banum or Hoyte….
Banum nat run me out…
I run because I know how to run 34 years ago…
and live far better than you though…
ya kyant live better dan me ever….
ehehehehehehehehehehhe
Well I’ve get even worse news for you evileyes,Ghandi made a lot of sacrifice for his country but lo and behold,his countrymen are now running to the land where Martin Luther made the ultimate sacrifice for, so you see evil at the end of the day Martin was THE MAN!!
Evileyes i agree MLK should bless Ghandi and Ghandi should bless African Slaves since you are referencing to His non-voilent movement because Caribbean history have it that this was a tool used by many slaves as well. I guess the Slaves have someone to be grateful to, too, Maybe God.
Congratulations, Cookie and crew! Every time I’m in NY I got to stock up there before I go home. The food is authentic, delicious and completely Guyanese. And, yes, I do crave I-Cee cream soda which he normally sells. Even the bottles bring back nostalgic memories. Hopefully, you can make this into a franchise like Golden Crest, the Jamaican chain so that we who live outside of NY can enjoy this fine cuisine.
Addy
I second that. Bring one to Boston. The Guyanese population has grown tremendously. A Sybils in Boston, Mass, would be a great addition.
Bismattie Ramsawak You are so out of this world do you write then think. If the vast majority of PPP supporters are leaving Guyana in droves then it would fair to say they cannot win any elections. But yet they keep on winning where is your logic I fail to see it.
The pictures of the pastries and breads here made my mouth water. I could eat everything in that case, for it looks absolutely delicious. The late Sybil (and now carried on by her son) embodied the true spirit of Guyanese, determination and hard work.
well said sister sister. some people can learn civility by reading your blog.
Yes John, We should give a postumus Cacique Crown Award to Sybil, she arrived in the US with just her grip, as the story states, but she grasped that opportunity by taking flour, water, sugar and salt and turned it into something delicious to benefit her family and the overseas based Guyanese community and others, that is the true spirit of Guyana.
EE when did you leave Guyana and when are you going back to live?
watcher
keep watching eh…
you might want fuh know much more later on…
so de saying goes like dis..
de mo yuh watch de less you see and the less you see is better for me…keep watching wathcer…
to answer your question..
i leave and live i live and leave…
Get it?
Now forget it…..ehehehehehehehehhe
I hope this answer your questions…
amm ah realy dont want fuh seh yuh too fass..
but is good qeuestions asked…
ehehehehehehehehehe
EE the question was an attempt to raise the level of the debate coming from you however your descent into personlisation makes this seem lost on you. If as an apparent defender of the status quo in Guyana this is all you are capable of what then does it say about them.
sandy, this is a hard working woman, get away from the kabaka days to make life, guess what? she made it , congrats, way to go sybil.
I went to the one on Liberty and 133rd(I think) two weeks ago. Their food really is good and the service is excellent. Keep it up!