By night, Mario and Fiona Machado are elegant hosts serving up delectable dishes with panache to a largely corporate clientele, but by day they’re lunchtime heroes, saving Kingston’s corporate set from trans-fat and soggy fries.

The couple, along with their son David (right), own and operate the newly opened Mac’s Gourmet Market on Hope Road, where each day they prepare fresh salads, tasty pot-pies, sandwiches and many more items suitable for lunch and beyond.

But the family, who also established Mac’s Chop House nearly two years ago, say that succeeding in the fine dining business is anything but glitzy.

“It’s a tough business, lovely business socially, but at the end of the day, your initial purpose is to survive and to prosper,” Machado says, explaining his reasons for opening the market to Observer Food Seminar patrons on Tuesday at the Hilton Kingston.

“We realised that we couldn’t generate enough money from one revenue stream, just doing dinner at night,” he adds. He further notes that the capital investment in such a project had to be substantial.

The big idea, he says, works because Jamaicans are largely becoming more open to new foods, though still not enough. Notwithstanding, it’s always a challenge to maintain an exciting menu.

“You have to keep people motivated. Jamaicans are easily bored and demand exacting standards… you have to keep current.”

Though the currency of Mac’s Gourmet Market is still in the air, the Machados are already thinking of taking it further.

Machado mentions that he’s willing to partner with other quality players within the industry to bring his patrons the best, dropping patissier Nicole Shirley as one of the possibilities.

But for ‘Mac’ the best not only has to do with food styling and presentation, but also décor. The gourmet market is arguably one of Kingston’s more pleasurable spaces, with its neatly defined sections, soft walls and herb garden.

“We just started to learn what it means for a place to be inviting, it’s so good to see.”