The man behind one of the most popular seafood restaurants in the island, Little Ochie's Evrol 'Blackie' Christian.

On October 20, outstanding Jamaicans will be recognised for their contribution to Jamaica, land we love. In the coming weeks, the Flair Magazine will be highlighting some of these outstanding Jamaicans who will be receiving national honours.

On Monday, October 20, Evrol Christian, popularly known as Blackie, will add the distinction of a national honour to his list of achievements. He feels proud of the achievement and told Flair in an interview that he thanks Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton for recommending him for the recognition.

He has come a long way since leaving Alligator Pond Primary and New Forest Junior High schools. He first got the idea for little Ochie in 1989. With a fisherman for a father and uncles and cousins in the business, he had grown up loving the sea.

Starting out

As if in preparation for his future career, Blackie also learnt to cook from his father who was the seafood chef for the Port Kaiser bauxite company workers. Blackie started his entrepreneurial quest by buying and selling bait to fishermen on the beach, followed by mint tea and boiled eggs to the ones who left at 4 a.m. for the wide open sea. "I soon realised that I could do a thing in the daytime and began selling cold beers," Blackie said, explaining how he started out.

He revealed that, back in the day, fishermen used to roast fish for one another, but he saw a way of separating the act from friendship and making a business out of it. He also watched his father keenly and picked up valuable cooking hints, as well as learnt how to do laundry and help himself around the home very early in life.

Soon, he set up the first shop on the beach where Little Ochie now sits, and one rainy Sunday afternoon, when locals and visitors drank rum and chatted as they sheltered from the downpour, the name for the famous seafood restaurant literally came out of 'rum talk'. "It was a slab-roof building and everyone came in for shelter. Then one of the men from the district said the place and the atmosphere reminded him of Ocho Rios in St Ann and from the subsequent chatter, the name evolved and we registered it as a seafood restaurant," he said.

Valuable contribution

Today, he runs the business with partner of 16 years, Ludinie Spence, and credits her for her valuable contribution. Although he has two boats of his own, he buys fresh catch from some 30 boats and other sources for his daily operations. There is a small branch in Mandeville, but Blackie says his customers still prefer to come to Alligator Pond. "Over the years, the name has spread because of the service and quality we offer and I plan to maintain that," he said. Mandeville will continue to grow but the ambience and rustic feel of the headquarters will be the same. To meet the demands year round, he has expanded the facilities with a cold room to store fish when there is bad weather and fishermen cannot go out to sea.

For the future, his main focus will be maintaining that quality and giving back to the community through education. He has already begun by awarding scholarships at the tertiary level. But events like the annual New Year's Day family get-together; the annual seafood carnival; Mother's Day and Father's Day will grow and continue to improve.