By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
POPEYES Bahamas is eyeing the opening of a third restaurant on Robinson Road by the 2017 second quarter, an expansion that is expected to create 60 jobs.
Terry Tsavoussis, vice-president of Aetos Holdings, the investment vehicle headed by himself and his brother, Chris, which also owns the Wendy’s and Marco’s Pizza franchises, made the announcement as they unveiled the second Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant on Carmichael Road in time for Christmas.
He told Tribune Business that the opening of the second Popeyes restaurant had brought the total employment created by their latest Bahamas franchise to 185.
The Carmichael Road opening, according to the brothers, has brought $3 million worth of investment into the fast-growing local community.
The first Popeyes restaurant opened on Prince Charles Drive last December and, according to Cheryl Bachelder, Popeyes Louisianna Kitchen’s global chief executive, set sales records.
Terry Tsavoussis told Tribune Business that the second outlet, which opened to customers on Wednesday, has already “exceeded our expectations”.
“We expected this to do well, and there to be a little bit of cannibalisation,” he explained.
“That’s usually what happens, but eventually the other store’s sales will increase again. It has exceeded our expectations given the preliminary numbers that we are seeing. We literally just opened on Wednesday with practically no advertising, apart from social media.”
Terry Tsavoussis continued: “We plan to open store number three in 2017. That will employ probably 60 persons because it will be a different concept, in as much as it will have a Y-lane, walk-up windows and double drive-through - very similar to the Wendy’s on Carmichael Road - because we are limited with the property on Robinson Road.
“We have already cleared the land, but we were just waiting to finish the second outlet before we got moving on the third one. We’re targeting the second quarter of next year for that one to be open.”
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 4 months ago
These two Greek guys are laughing all the way to the bank as they drive up our healthcare costs with this poisonous food that literally kills hundreds of Bahamians annually and has many of our less impoverished children grossly over-weight. Hell, these two Greeks don't even live in the Bahamas and own similar fast food establishments on the west coast of Florida. The profits they make on their Bahamian fast food operations are sucked out of the Bahamas in U.S. dollars thanks to the Exchange Control Dept of The Central Bank turning a blind eye (and possibly even assisting) because of their secretive elitist (and much darker) Bahamian business partner who has an awful lot of political clout to enable things to get done that should not be done. The contribution to our economy of the additional low paying jobs will pale in comparison to the additional healthcare costs our country will incur. At one time, all of these types of fast food outlets were banned from operating in the Bahamas and just about every senior healthcare professional and senior healthcare insurer in the Bahamas today will tell you the the Bahamian people back then were much healthier for it.
bahamalove 7 years, 4 months ago
Even though we live in a democratic society and we have freedom in choosing what we want to eat, I fully agree with this assessment. We need to have a moratorium on the amount of fast food establishments allowed in this country. Soon we will have a fast food joint, liquor store, web shop and church on every commercial corner of this country.
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