Profile - Ian Coke: Young and dreaming

- Carlington Wilmot

Ian Coke, Kingston College graduate turned entrepreneur.

THE STAFF at Fiesta, the new American-style fast food restaurant which has replaced Bojangles in Papine, St. Andrew, are a collection of odd individuals. All have been trained to the same strict code of conduct, says owner Ian 'Curtis' Coke, but all were hand-selected not only by their qualifications, or their faces, but for their origin.

One is a much older woman. Others are 'young' girls. The chef is a graduate fresh out of University of Technology. The operations manager is his brother. Also working in the restaurant is his wife who supervises productions and sales. The common feature that binds them together lies in their connection, in various ways, to the past of Coke, to the years in which he lived in relative poverty in Jones Town in Kingston.

Coke returned to Jamaica in February of this year, he says, to "give back, and to give other people a chance". In the United States where he was until February of this year, he could not bring the people who he wanted to help up to him. He did not believe in sending hand-outs either. He came because he wanted to help this brother, who was still living in Jones Town, and others who were unemployed. Now he employs them, inviting them on board his dream of owning a chain of fast food restaurants across the island.

Born in 1976, Ian Coke lived in Jones Town in a small 'Housing Trust' home with his father, a postman, and two brothers. He recalls the 1980s when gunshots barking ceaselessly became a settled feature of life. It was no ordinary upbringing in the inner city, he recalls.

The boys' mother died early. He remembers, "My father restrained us from going outside. We had to do our homework, and whoever came home first had to cook. I became very good at it. My brothers would stay out late just so they could always eat my cooking."

When his father died of cancer while he was in fourth form at Kingston College, an uncle removed him from 'Town' and took him to live in the Red Hills area where he was introduced to a whole different world. It was the world of corporate Jamaica, which he came to adore. He soon decided that, by any means possible, he wanted to become a part of it.

Service station

Uncle Oswald Coke owned a service station and was involved in construction. The fourth former, whom he took under his wing, was introduced to many members of the corporate world with whom the businessman was friendly. "I saw that the only way to escape poverty was by doing well," his nephew now reflects.

Coke graduated from Kingston College with eight O' levels and having secured a visitor's visa, arrived in the USA in 1992. A brief stay in New York was followed by a journey to Maryland where decided to attend Prince George's Community College, earning an associate degree in business management. In 1997, he secured a bachelors degree in hotel management, with minors in accounting and computers, at Brentwick University.

His progress in school was aided by the Kingston College Old Boys Association, whose Washington Chapter gave him a cheque for US$6,000 to begin classes.

He had attended their meeting, and had asked very nicely for this push-start to attend school. "I was so focused, I was determined to do anything legal to get ahead," Coke admits.

He also got reacquainted with and married his wife Lettesha, who "kept him through college". They had been friends in Jones Town, and finding her familiar face again appeared to be fate.

All the while he attended school, he was working to earn his keep. First he secured a job with a Jamaican who paid him $50 a week. Soon, however, he switched to South Western Bell where his title was financial analyst, and where he was basically involved in collections. Next, he went to BET (Black Entertainment Television) in commercial collections.

In his last semester at Brentwick, and while working at BET, he renewed acquaintance with an uncle who taught him how to do taxes. He was motivated to set up his own tax advisory service and, before long, collected over 1,000 clients. Soon he was making over $150,000 per quarter. Self employment, he said, was his ticket, "Anything I do for myself, I always put 100 per cent in it."

Coke then sank his earnings into real estate, purchasing, refurbishing and reselling homes with significant profit. This he continued until early this year, when he decided that it was time to come back home.

Wife Lettesha remembers how she fretted when Ian came to her workplace and said, "We are going home." She did not feel his unbounded optimism then about returning home to live. But return they did, and moving at the pace of lightning, Coke bought the lease to the Bojangles, Papine, to which lease was attached a take-over date. In one day, the signs and menus were changed. In one week the faces of the staff were different.

Fiesta is run in a hands-on fashion. "I believe in order for fast food to be successful, one has to focus on service. You, the owner, must train staff according to your own specifications," says Coke.

The man, who used to cook at home, said that to his formal training in American schools, was added a true knowledge of what Jamaicans want to eat.

The menu at the restaurant features fresh fruit juices made with real fruit and dishes including oxtail and a jerk-barbecue chicken. All dishes are designed to suit the Jamaican taste buds, he states. He reflects, "my friends in the States always complained that they could not find any place that sold real Jamaican food like rice and peas and chicken. We are selling Jamaican and natural foods in a nice environment."

He is aiming next for Portmore and Linstead.

People who know him before he left for the United States are now often disbelieving. "Some say I am in drugs." He pauses. "In life, one has to know where one is coming from and once you have that, it does not matter too much." The assumption that he is involved in illegal activities clearly hurts.

Today, the new restaurant is painted festively, but in the sober theme of the black green and gold of Garvey, meant to indicate the man's nationalism and his commitment to country. He does not care about those who might think that this is a cheesy philosophy.

Coke says that he wishes more Jamaicans who now live abroad would follow his example, instead of coming back only to "show off" and "give the impression that money grows on trees abroad."

Giving back

"I had to come back and give some people a break," Coke emphasises. The faces of his staff reflect this. "I have people from the country, new school leavers and a chef who had just graduated. This is my way of giving back. I thought of teaching accounts at K.C. But teaching is not my thing."

He believes that he is a good example for other growing boys in Jones Town. "When they say one has to push drugs to earn money, it is not true."

For Lettesha, it is a bit distressing to go back to Jones Town and see people trapped in poverty. "They always expect more," she said, noting that she is frequently pressured for gifts when she goes there to visit her mom. It is part of the cost of coming back, she believes.

She is now firmly behind her husband. "He always said he would find a way."

He has not failed her yet.

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