Businessman Marico Thomas has opened a new branch of bakery store Glaze.

The firm has moved into the site of the old Digicel shop as Glaze Bakery Café on Hamilton’s Church Street after the original shop on Bermudiana Road has proved a hit with customers during just over a year in business.

Janee Pitt, operations manager for the food chain that also includes Four Star Pizza, said the new Glaze Bakery and Café would offer a wider variety than the smaller original outlet.

She added: “Bermudiana Road has been very successful and that’s why we wanted to expand and give Glaze further opportunities to be successful.

“With the new store, the whole idea is we want to be able to cater to different people, not just people who love indulgent food like sweets.

“We’re going to have food for people who are health conscious — things like salads and energy bars and we’re going to food for the comfort eaters like soups, breads and paninis.

“But we will keep our famous doughnuts and cakes and lots of other things.”

And Ms Pitt said Glaze was looking at further expansion, with a drive-through store on Devonshire’s Middle Road already in the works and an eye on suitable premises elsewhere.

She added: “The whole idea is to not just sell good, nice, tasty products, it’s about creating an experience for our customers.

“We want to know everyone and what they like so they’re happy when they leave and they come back.”

Ms Pitt said that Glaze and Four Star Pizza would continue to be run as separate brands at the moment.

She added: “We think of Glaze and Four Star as the big brother and the little sister.

“We hope she will grow and become as successful as Four Star — that’s the goal.”

Ms Pitt said Mr Thomas was off the island and not available for comment.

But she added: “He is very excited about how things are going and he wants people to get interested in having conversations about food.

“He wants customers to understand why what they are eating is important.”

The new store will also feature a wide range of coffees and smoothies.

Ms Pitt explained: “A lot of people think of us as a doughnut shop and that’s not what we set out to be.

“We’re a bakery — we do bread and cakes as well and that’s a big part of what we do.”

Mr Thomas, who also runs Indigo restaurant in Flatts and North Shore Bakery, confessed earlier this year that his own sweet tooth helped spark his newest business.

He said on overseas trips, he was a regular customer at doughnut shops — and that helped him decide to open his own store.

Mr Thomas — who is celebrating 25 years in the food business — added: “It occurred to me that a plane ticket, hotel room and a car rental was a bit much to pay for a good doughnut.”

He explained that his firm already runs a bakery, supplying cakes, tarts, pies, bread and pastries to hotels and guesthouses — but had never expanded into retail until the original Glaze opened last December.