POPULAR local food restaurant chain Island Grill is to expand its operations with the addition of a mobile unit and a state-of-the-art commissary situated at its Valentine Drive headquarters in Kingston.

The new commissary will allow Island Grill personnel in the restaurants to focus more on customers’ needs while it takes care of supplies, thus adding greater efficiency to the entire operation.

Speaking with Caribbean Business Report from Island Grill’s Valentine Drive headquarters, the company’s CEO Thalia Lyn said: “To refurbish this existing building, and we are not finished yet, the capital equipment came to J$130 million. Luckily, interest rates are low right now and that has worked in our favour. We have been working with PanCaribbean and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

“At one stage we brought in nine trailers of equipment all at once. The chill room equipment alone proved challenging and the entire thing was a logistical nightmare. The commissary consists of 12 temperature-controlled rooms used for production and storage. There is also a 1,200 square-foot production kitchen which will be used to support the restaurants. This new facility will be used to launch Island Grill’s catering division. It will also service the mobile unit. There is also 6,000 square footage for dry storage use.

“The good news is that we have now purchased the real estate that we sit on. So the building, the land and the land which the commissary sits on belongs to us and there is enough land now to expand the commissary as and when we need to. We have added a mezzanine and so the commissary is around 18,000 square feet.”

Lyn’s father purchased extensive real estate holdings in Valentine Drive years ago and so his daughter Thalia was now able to purchase some of that to expand her Island Grill operations. He developed the residential side of Valentine Gardens. Incidentally, the family sold the land currently occupied by PriceSmart on Red Hills Road.

The mobile unit will be based at UTech initially until Lyn is able to put up a permanent structure there. The tertiary educational institution has pleaded with Island Grill to place a restaurant there to cater to its student population. The mobile unit will go some way to satisfy the demand and it can be transported to any location. The unit will be transported by ATL Autohaus’s VW Amarok pick-up truck. It will be able to service big events like Champs and carnival.

“The beauty of the mobile unit is that we can have it at UTech for the busy lunchtime trade and then move it to, say, a function at the stadium in the evening. We do breakfast as well, so we are able to cater for the student population. If the mobile unit is running out of something, the commissary can address that,” explained Island Grill’s CEO.

Island Grill’s General Manager Albert Bailey is looking forward to the launch of Island Grill’s catering arm and both the commissary and the mobile unit should be of outstanding assistance in facilitating this. The fact that Island Grill is already a strong brand should benefit this new arm.

“The fact is as far as catering is concerned, we have greater demand than we are able to satisfy. We have tried to address this from our mobile stoves but we have had to turn away a lot of requests. Remember, at one time we serviced cricket matches at Sabina Park, but that proved difficult. We could do 200 meals from the stoves but when the demand is for 4000 that is a different proposition altogether. Now we have put ourselves in a position to take that on and create another revenue arm. We can also take on catering needs at residences and for special functions. We will be able to now deliver catering orders right from here on Valentine Drive.

“We hope to have more mobile units in the future. You see, where we might not be able to put up a restaurant because the demand does not justify it, we can operate a mobile unit and move them around, particularly to special events. The first mobile unit is almost booked out already! Our vision is to take on any function, anywhere. We will now be able to offer additional items, like pork, with our mobile units. We can gauge demand and act accordingly. We are planning to create a web site where all the menu options are listed and you can order from them online. Both the mobile unit and the commissary will assist in standardising our operations,” explained Bailey.

Right now Island Grill has 15 restaurants dotted across the country. Bailey believes that number can go up to 40. An additional three restaurants will be opened this year, two in Kingston and one in Sav-la-Mar. The company is considering locating a restaurant in Mandeville and is in the process of assessing demand.

“We are poised for rapid expansion in Jamaica. With the commissary, we can now go forward with this. In the last couple of years or so, we didn’t build out many units, primarily because our infrastructure could not support that. Now we have addressed that we are now looking at putting up three restaurants a year. We are pretty excited about what we can now do. We see greater potential in Jamaica than in the rest of the Caribbean, so we will focus on our home market, ” said Lyn.