In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and an economic recession, a beloved Bahamian eatery which closed more than a decade ago is making a resurgence.
Following a substantial investment of $1.5 million, Cafe Johnny Canoe has made its new home along Baha Mar Boulevard.
This is not the first time the restaurant has opened during an economic downturn, Café Johnny Canoe Manager Denise Pikramenos told Guardian Business.
In fact, she said the first time the restaurant opened was during the recession of the early 1990s.
“It’s interesting because the first time we opened Johnny Canoe was when we had the Gulf War recession in The Bahamas and it was the worst time. We had a lot of people calling and saying ‘what are you doing, are you crazy?’ We still went for it,” she said.
“This time we had just signed the lease when COVID-19 hit. There were a lot of people asking for Johnny Canoe, when they would see us they would ask when are you reopening? We did it once before during a difficult time, so we did it again.”
It has not been smooth sailing though. Plans to reopen were made just before the state of emergency was announced following the first cases of COVID-19 in The Bahamas.
“It kind of came with a shock though, with the situation with COVID. But we just decided to continue, steady as she goes. It has taken us much longer to finish the project because of the shutdowns and getting products out of the US like our kitchen equipment and furniture, they were very delayed,” Pikramenos said.
“We had just started construction when everything got shut down for six weeks, so that set us back. It has been a challenge, but we didn’t want to give up because we kind of feel like there’s a need for it in the community.”
The original Café Johnny Canoe closed shortly after Baha Mar closed the Nassau Beach resort to begin construction on its multibillion-dollar resort.
Pikramenos said the restaurant is eyeing the middle to the end of February to officially reopen, adding at least 60 new jobs to the workforce.
“We’re going to be having probably about 60 staff and we have a lot of the previous Johnny Canoe staff that have been calling and we will be bringing them back. We’re all a little bit older but they know us, they love the business and they love the customer service end of it,” she said.
“Unfortunately a couple of the people have passed away while we were closed down, so we have a few new faces, but we’re thrilled that a lot of the old Johnny Canoe staff has been calling. We just started some of the interviews today and a lot of them came down.”
She added, “Logistically we’re pretty much done with all of the infrastructure and getting everything ready for kitchen equipment and the furniture that’s coming in. We’ve finished everything finally, all of the plumbing, the exhaust hood, those types of things are in, but all of the cooking equipment, our small wares and the furniture are coming. So that’s logistically what we need to finish up and then of course have our people help out with tying everything in and getting ready to fire it up with our test kitchen.”
Pikramenos said the return of Café Johnny Canoe is based solely on his family’s love for and belief in The Bahamas.
“We love The Bahamas, it’s our home and we want to do whatever we can to help make it a better place. We think that by not only providing good jobs but providing good products with excellent service, we contribute to the community,” she said.
“Our staff will obviously benefit financially from it. Overall we just think it’s a great way to show our confidence in The Bahamas and we’re happy to be back.”
The post Cafe Johnny Canoe resurges more than a decade after closing appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/cafe-johnny-canoe-resurges-more-than-a-decade-after-closing/
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