The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor A WELL-KNOWN Bahamian businessman yesterday said he had been "terribly surprised with the success" of his 22 year-old company in "carrying the flagship of Bahamian food", as it moves to "regroup" and consolidate its latest $3.5 million expansion. Gus Cartwright, proprietor of the Checkers Cafe and Sunrise Wash House chains, told Tribune Business that while Family Island expansion via joint venture/franchise-type partnerships was an eventual possibility, the business was "cooling off" following the opening its Joe Farrington Road outlet. Disclosing that the latest location had become the third strongest performer within the four-strong Checkers set-up, Mr Cartwright added that the Joe Farrington Road site, which employs 25 persons, had "gone a bit beyond expectations". Its performance, he said, had helped to "pick up the slack" from the Robinson Road/East Street location, where sales had dropped 30-40 per cent due to its position at "the heart" of the ongoing New Providence Road Improvement project. Explaining that the roadworks' impact caused himself and Checkers' management to pay attention "to what is really going on in your business," Mr Cartwright said: "We had a meeting with staff, and noticed areas affected by the change in infrastructure were down 30-40 per cent. "The store we had affected the most was the Robinson Road/East Street store, which was in the heart of everything. We had to pay a lot of attention to it, keep it from dying, and pay special attention to that." As a result, Mr Cartwright said Checkers aimed to maintain, and "pick up market share" from its three outlets not impacted. "Hopefully, some of the other stores picked up some of the slack," he added. Outlining Checkers' employee-focused philosophy, which ensured no lay-offs resulted from the roadworks-induced top-line drop at Robinson Road, Mr Cartwright said: "We believe that over the years we should be able to take a blow. "We shouldn't use the first opportunity, if we've had good staff with us for a while, the minute we have some difficulty to show them the door. That's not our way of doing business, and we believe we should weather the storm with you as long as we can. The brunt of the storm is now over." And Mr Cartwright said the Checkers Cafe/Sunrise laundromat on Joe Farrington Road, for example, had been impacted "in a positive way" by the roadworks causing the closure of Prince Charles Drive, which has diverted more traffic flow past his location. "Our business has expanded more from the difficulty of other businesses," he acknowledged. Able to benchmark Joe Farrington Road's performance against its fellow Checkers locations, Mr Cartwright said: "We've gone a bit beyond expectations. "Between the four stores we have right now, it seems to be in third place as far as growth is concerned. Any business that can pay its bills, it's a big celebration in terms of this economy." Mr Cartwright said that acquiring the land and buildings at Joe Farrington Road, then outfitting them into a diner and laundromat respectively, had resulted in Checkers making an investment of "close to $3.5 million". While he had been "teased for expansion into Freeport and Abaco", the Checkers proprietor said the successful Bahamian business, a major player on the local restaurant landscape, was now taking stock and consolidating the gains from Joe Farrington Road before making any fresh moves. "We see ourselves going through, right now, a period of regrouping from all this expansion," Mr Cartwright told Tribune Business. "We did Carmichael Road first, expanded that, and two years later, finished and opened Joe Farrington Road. "We're going through a rest period, so no matter what the accountants say to me, I'd be reluctant to make any decision to expand..... I'd like to call it a cooling-off period." Although not on the horizon in the short to medium-term, Checkers has not ruled out moves into the Family Islands via some form of franchise/joint venture partnership agreements. "I feel like there's a possibility we may expand, but we would move forward with it extremely cautiously," Mr Cartwright told Tribune Business. "From visiting, there may be one or two Family Islands, but we would prefer to joint partner with someone in those communities. If we do go into the Family Islands, we would share our expertise in all that we do and try to make it a huge success. As long as we get our name up there, we will stand for more than opening a Bahamian restaurant, we will stand for a Bahamian Checkers restaurant, and that's important." Through being in the business of selling food and drink, and keeping clothes clean, Mr Cartwright said Checkers and Sunrise had positioned themselves as "necessity businesses", providing products and services all Bahamians needed. He pointed out that Checkers, which opened its first restaurant on Mackey Street in 1989, was now strategically located to cater to the "four sectors of New Providence", with Carmichael in the west, Joe Farrington Road in the east and Robinson Road in the south. Given New Providence's growth and heavy vehicle volumes, Mr Cartwright said Checkers needed to take its products to where Bahamians lived, rather than expect them to come to the restaurants. "If you're in Mackey Street, you need to go to the heart of Over-the-Hill. If you're selling an indigenous product, you need to go to the masses," he added of Checkers' early philosophy. Reflecting on 22 years of controlled expansion and success, Mr Cartwright told Tribune Business: "I've been terribly surprised with the success of Checkers. We sell a local product, and we compete against mammoth giants. "This food business, it is not out there for any specific person. It is a wide open field, and for us just to be effective today is a success story in itself, and to be able to carry the flagship of Bahamian food." He added: "We're very fortunate. I honestly believe that we, as a business, have made the Bahamas proud of Bahamian food. We have made our country proud. Someone can stand up and make Bahamian food work, and make it into a real business."