By Dennise Williams, Staff reporterISLAND GRILL, one of Jamaica's most popular indigenous quick -casual restaurants, will be opening their 11th location in New Kingston in time for the Christmas season.
"Yes, we will be opening a location in New Kingston. We haven't signed the lease yet, but we want to open before Christmas or within that time frame," said Island Grill principal, Thylia Lyn.
Serving a variety of jerked fish and chicken dishes, Island Grill will take over the space formerly held by the Kenny Rogers Roasters/Churches Fried Chicken restaurant, which is on the New Kingston hip strip with Burger King and Bulls Eye Steakhouse as immediate neighbours.
Kenny Rogers Roasters had been in New Kingston for a few years and in early 2003 merged operations with the Churches Fried Chicken franchise. However, in the fiercely competitive New Kingston fast food market profit margins remained thin and the restaurant finally closed their doors in May 2004. Roy D'Cambre, principal of Kenny Rogers Roasters and Churches, in previous reports, cited the prevalence of rodents and vagrants as a further deterrence to doing business in New Kingston.
THE FIGHT
Mrs. Lyn acknowledges the fight she will have on her hands to attract fickle foodies, "New Kingston will be a challenge for us." To attract the masses, Mrs. Lyn estimates that her company will spend between J$10 million to $15 million. "We are still working out the details of our budget but obviously some of that money will be for marketing as the New Kingston restaurant market is very competitive. Also along with that we have to spend money on our intensive training and sanitation processes to ensure quality customer service. Everybody in New Kingston offers good food, but it is service that makes the difference."
Mrs. Lyn indicated that the funds for the expansion would not come directly from the company's resources, but from loans. "We can't expand from out of cash flow. We probably will have to get a loan from the Development Bank of Jamaica. Although it is a lot of work to get the less costly loans, I have a great team that will help us to put together our business plan. And we are not a credit risk, so we are comfortable going for financing."
The New Kingston location of Island Grill will have the signature Caribbean style with banana leaf tables and bright vibrant colours. The restaurant will have 44 seats along with an expansive service line. This is to facilitate some of the new features that will come with the new location. "We want to see if we can do a delivery service. But this is something new for us and we don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot.
ONE CHANCE
You only get one chance to impress the market." Mrs. Lyn also stated that the take-out service would be greatly enhanced for the hectic New Kingston crowds, plus, "we will be looking at breakfast sales. Right now we only promote them in our airport locations but that is something we want to focus on in New Kingston." Additionally, Mrs. Lyn stated, "We will be looking into the possibility of having longer opening hours on Fridays and Saturdays to accommodate the patrons for the nightclubs." Mrs. Lyn is very cautious in the expansion of her restaurant chain, as she had been burned in the past. Island Grill had opened two locations in Florida in early 2001. However, the economic downturn following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 derailed her plans and she closed operations in December of 2002. "In Florida, we expanded too quickly because the locations were available. However, after 9/11 people stopped spending money and that is still the case. Even now, our location at Lauderdale Lakes is still vacant. The management still cannot find a tenant."
So cautious is Mrs. Lyn that she has scaled back worldwide expansion plans. "We had an ideal location in the island of St. Lucia but we did not take it because it makes no sense to open in a location where I cannot get a least three prime spots. Our research reveals that it takes three restaurants to be worth our while in terms of staff costs and operational costs."
LOT OF INTERESTS
However, this reticence has not deterred others from making Mrs. Lyn offers, "I have received, just last week, proposals for franchising Island Grill in France and Germany. So there is a lot of interest out there for our product."
Wednesday Business queried the possibility of listing Island Grill on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. To this Mrs. Lyn said, "We do have a lot of goodwill here in Jamaica and that is a good thing if you are thinking of listing. However, right now, interest rates are heading down and so we don't need to go to the JSE to raise money." But Mrs. Lyn didn't totally dismiss the idea. "While we are not looking to list in the near term, it is a possibility within a three to five year time frame."
