Jeronimo D’Souza takes Goan flavours to another level in Qatar

The strong aroma of freshly-baked bread or for that matter any bakery product is such a wonderful feeling which lives with you for a long time. There is something refreshingly different and stimulating about it which leaves a lasting impression. That’s exactly what happened with a young Jeronimo D’Souza, a Mapusa resident, who grew up in an environment surrounded by bakeries.

The lingering flavour of the warm bakery products and the opportunity to hang out with family and friends over a delightful morning breakfast in Mapusa made Jeronimo fall in deep love with the culinary world. It was then and there the long journey of Jeronimo took shape and the hunger to know more and learn more took shape over the years.

Since then, Jeronimo's pursuit to gain excellence in his field of expertise took him to the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM), Porvorim where he got his initial training and after working for a brief period as Sky Chef at Ambassador Mumbai, which is famous for Flight catering. Thereafter his first assignment outside India started in Oman where he worked for five years.

Thereafter he worked for different periods in Dubai for another five years and also in Bahrain and for two different periods of time in Qatar. 

Cut to the present and Jeronimo is a successful entrepreneur who is running two cafes in Qatar, under the banner of Jazz Café, in partnership with a local resident Jassim M Al Theyab.

His multinational staff work to spread the aroma and tick the taste buds of their customers in Qatar just like what happened to a young Jeronimo in Mapusa a few decades back. 

Jazz Café besides managing and running the two cafes, one which is based at the ExxonMobil Tower, and a second one which is situated at Al Arabi Stadium Complex, have a full-fledged kitchen and the products besides being sold over the counter at the cafes are served at two schools in Qatar. Both the American and Finnish schools are managed by the Jazz Café management.

At the cafes, the Jazz Cafe management is paying attention to maintaining high quality and also have laid emphasis on a healthy lifestyle, with organic juices having become quite a hit with their customers. 

Jeronimo has tried to give Goans a few local flavours of what he picked up from Goa and to take healthy living to another level. The Goan Poee labelled as Diet Baps on the Jazz Café shelves have become quite a hit among the customers.

“We sell juices, coffee, snacks, cakes, birthday cakes and breakfast snacks, muffins, all totally bakery products besides breads,” said the Goan, who was first based in Qatar in 2003 but after a short stint of two years left to work in Bahrain.

He returned to Qatar after a few years in Bahrain and started Jazz Café in 2015.

Recalling his association with Jassim M Al Theyab he said: “We met by sheer coincidence, he was the owner of one shop and I was working as a partner in another shop which was situated close to his, so we just met that time and he had my contact so one day he suddenly called me and said we need to do something together and we started this in 2015, and the rest is history as they say.”

Besides the Goan Poee’s, Jazz Café sells a few Goan products like Beef puff’s which are popularly called as beef pattice in Goa.