years ago when he decided that the standard of pizza on the Island just wasn't good enough.

"There were too many inconsistencies,'' he said. "Some days a pizza from a particular place would be good, the next day it wouldn't.'' So Mr. Thomas decided to go to the New York to learn to make the perfect pizza.

"I just met somebody off the street who knew how to make pizza and asked him to teach me,'' he said. "It took me three and a half weeks to learn how to make a pizza. After that, I just took it from there.'' He returned an ambassador in the art of pizza making and trained about 50 staff in the technique before opening the first Four Star Pizza house in Hamilton in November 1990.

"Four Star stands for quality, service, convenience and consistency,'' says Mr. Thomas.

His recipe for success seems to be holding good as Four Star Pizza won its second "Best of Bermuda Gold Award'' this year for "best pizza'', just a month after the Somerset branch opened for business.

The first delivery service of its kind in Bermuda, Mr. Thomas realised that he would have to structure his business differently to cope with the difficulties of the delivery business.

"Delivery is tough,'' he says. "It's a strain on the staff and the restaurant. So everything we do is different to the way other businesses are run.

Flexibility seems to be the key as staff are expected not only to be able to make a good pizza, but deliver it as well.

"We organise our staff to fit around the work load so they may work anything from four to 50 hours in any given week.'' While Four Star originally offered a menu which included submarine sandwiches and salads, Mr. Thomas quickly responded to customer demand by concentrating on making a good pizza -- a process which he refers to as "crafting''.

And by this he means taking as much care as possible in ensuring the quality and consistency of his product. All the ingredients are weighed to ensure a uniformity of pizza in all three branches.

"If you order a pizza one day, it is important that the quality is the same the next,'' says Mr. Thomas.

A man who claims that he loves receiving complaints, Thomas says Four Star has improved a lot since its early days, particularly now his deliverers are more experienced.

"Quality is all about understanding from your customers what is important,'' he says.

Since the third branch of Four Star Pizza opened in February in Somerset, Mr.

Thomas can boast a reliable pizza delivery service to all but three parishes.

The Flatts branch opened in the Village more than two years ago bringing Four Star Pizza to Smith's Parish.

"People west of Hamilton were envious when Flatts opened,'' says Mr. Thomas.

"They were asking us when they would be able to get pizza delivered to them.

So when we opened in Somerset they were really grateful.'' Expansion is in the pipeline as Mr. Thomas hopes that one day he will be able to deliver Four Star Pizza to the whole Island "not so far in the future.'' But he is reluctant to say where he plans to open next although he is conscious that residents of Warwick, Southampton and St. George's are wondering when they will be next.

"Change is in the air,'' is all he will say.

SUPERIOR PIZZA CRAFTERS -- Employees of the recently opened Somerset branch of Four Star Pizza are ready for business. From left, Mrs. Deanna Warren, Miss Barbara Bean, Miss Antoinette Thompson, Employee of the Month Mr. Jamal Johnson, Miss Myeesha Sabir and Mr. Ed Stenson.