Barny’s, named after the favorite toy dinosaur of the owner’s daughter started serving its first batch of customers in 1998 in China Town, Saipan, armed with the interest to provide parties for children while at the same time offering the community all-time favorites like pasta and pizza.
Ernel Rubio, Barny’s food services manager said the original name of the restaurant is Barny’s Pizza and Pasta House.
“The restaurant became known for its superb children’s parties with a Barney clown to entertain the kids,” Rubio said.
The success of the company pushed them to move on to a new and bigger location a couple of years later, in Susupe across the Grand Saipan Hotel, increasing the number of their clients as a result.
The move paved the way for them to start serving food packs to schools.
“We started serving the Headstart and Eucon School, and that started everything,” Rubio said.
In 2000, they got another client, the Marianas High school and that’s when they decided to concentrate in providing quality food to the students.
Rubio added that they started to submit bids to the CNMI-Public School System to provide food packs under the lunch program.
Barny’s is currently serving breakfast and lunch packs in different schools like San Antonio Elementary School, Koblerville Elementary School, Marianas High School and Seventh Day Adventist School.
With their efficient and highly trained staff behind its force, Barny’s makes it possible to be at the different schools to deliver delicious meals right on time.
“Barny’s has made a concerted effort to improve employee knowledge and training regarding food handling and preparation, sanitation and proper method of food storage,” Rubio said. He also said that all the staff undergoes food handling educational development regularly.
“Most of our staff had been with us for six years or more, so we have developed a comfortable working pattern and share the common goal of providing quality service to our customers,” Rubio said.
Barny’s believes that superb customer service starts with a harmonious relationship between the staff.
Rubio said that food quality and safety is the highest priority of Barny’s.
“Food safety and food quality are our edge and this is what we want to maintain,” Rubio said.
“In all the services we offer, our facilities are being monitored to meet with the federal standards,” he added.
“Barny’s strictly adheres to the standards set by the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system,” Rubio said.
HACCP is the scientific system of identifying specific hazards to ensure the safety of food.
Barny’s sees to it that all their food sources and suppliers are following these standards to ensure that they get only vegetables, meat and other food supplies of the highest quality.
“Again we are protecting our reputation and we would like to maintain it that way,” Rubio said.
Barny’s owner Jimmy Ham said that commitment and dedication is the real secret of the company’s success through all these years. With this, they built a new and large food service facility to further provide students with better service, quality of foods and to comply with the FNS/USDA standards.
“Our biggest proof of commitment to our clients is when we decided to defeat all odds and build the latest food service facility last year,” Ham said.
He added that many questioned the logic of building a new food service facility especially with the harsh economic times the island is facing right now but they went on with the project.
“Building the new facility we are now occupying has not been an easy one because during the planning stages, we were rained with so many challenges and discouragements,” Ham said.
“We looked at those hurdles as stepping stones instead of hindrances and we made it. Our new food service facility will turn one year in July,” he said.
The new building is complete with world-class facilities and equipment to ensure food safety. Supplies are received in an immaculate receiving area, and the merchandise are immediately stored in the designated chillers, freezers or storage rooms.
The main kitchen has ample spaces for baking as well as separate preparation areas for vegetables and meat.
Barnys has a special chiller to thaw meat.
Barny’s serves the students three different entrees for breakfast and lunch on a four-week rotation. This means that students have an option of three entrees daily.
The recommended menu from the CNMI PSS includes different portions of servings for the different grade levels and this is what Barny’s follows.
“We see to it that we follow the recommended servings and portions in the breakfast and lunch packs that we prepare to conform with the requirements,” Rubio said.
For breakfast, typical entrée includes assorted cereal, raisin bread, juice, a set of French toast, fruit cocktail, or a set of sotanghon soup and mandarin oranges.
Examples of lunch entrees include rice and sweet and sour pork, or a choice of hamburger, lettuce, tomato pickle and orange. Students could also go for an entrée of chicken adobo, rice, and green beans.
Rubio said all lunch and breakfast meals include half a pint of milk and all the entrees were approved and recommended by the CNMI-PSS nutritionists.
With veteran chefs at the helm backed by several years experience in the industry, clients of Barny’s are assured of nothing but the best in quality and food safety.
Ham said food preparation at Barny’s starts very early every school day.
Barny’s also operate the canteen at the MHS providing students with nutritious and healthy snack foods.
Barny’s human resource and compliance manager Chito Loterena also assists in seeing to it that the policies are implemented properly.
Ham said the biggest challenge Barny’s had to overcome in its 10 years of operation is in maintaining its high quality service despite the escalating costs of food supplies.
“It calls for cost cutting and austerity measures but we do this in other areas, not in the level of quality of food we serve,” Ham said.
We have to meet the standards requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Services,” he added.
Future plans
Barny’s has plans of moving up and expanding to other islands in the near future, particularly Guam.
“We would like to expand our services in providing quality meals to Guam and eventually to other Pacific regions,” Ham said.
A far cry from its humble beginnings a decade ago, Barny’s has continued its commitment in growing and developing its relationship with the PSS. To date, Barny’s is capable of serving as many as 4,000 breakfast and 4,000 lunch packs a day.
Barny’s also assures clients of stability in meeting its daily production requirements, delivery system and supplying the daily food needs.
“We had tied up with local food suppliers and different food vendors in the island,” Ham said.
Barny’s has indeed come a long way from what they were when they
ventured out into the food industry ten years ago. Theirs is one story to prove that success can be achieved through hard work, determination and commitment to serving their customers.
Stepping into the doors of Barny’s Pizza food facility is one proof that nothing is impossible and no hurdle is too great to be overcome when your utmost priority is service to the community in your own chosen industry.
Barny’s welcomes inspection of its facilities by prospective clients. For more information or inquiries, please call 234-7492.
To Barny’s Pizza, congratulations!
