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MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2024
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Restaurant chain to double ‘Remarkable uncertainty’ over staff as revenues rise 15% NIB back-pedalling By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A BAHAMIAN restaurant chain is aiming to double its workforce by July through the creation of 48 new jobs with revenues for the year-to-date some 15 percent ahead of 2023. Chef Kevin Culmer, Tropical Gyros chief executive, told Tribune Business the brand will fulfill its expansion promises to investors who financed its crowd-funding capital raise through the imminent launch of its mobile food trailer and summer 2024 opening of a third outlet on Carmichael Road. It is also targeting paying a dividend to shareholders after the 2024 third quarter ends. Disclosing that the combined investment in both ventures will be around $270,000, he added that
t 5SPQJDBM (ZSPT UP BEE KPCT CZ TVNNFS A t 5BSHFUT JOWFTUPS EJWJEFOE QBZPVU BGUFS 2 FOE t 5BMLJOH UP GSBODIJTFFT BTLFE PWFS +BNBJDB the Carmichael Road restaurant will create some 40 posts by offering night window service until midnight. The food trailer, which is expected to start operating within two weeks from the same site as the new restaurant, will add six jobs while a further two will be needed at its production centre to meet the extra demand. Chef Culmer said the chain has withstood any fall-out from the
controversy surrounding ArawakX, the platform through which it sourced investor monies, because “persons can see what we’ve done with their investment” via the addition of its second site on JFK Drive and the production centre. However, Tropical Gyros’ growth post-Carmichael Road’s July 2024 opening is intended to be driven by franchise partners rather than Chef
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
CHEF KEVIN CULMER Culmer himself. He confirmed is in talks with three potential Bahamian franchisees, one of whom is located in Freeport and the other two in New Providence. The Tropical Gyros chief said he has already given his blessing for potential restaurants in downtown Freeport’s Regency Plaza, and at the former Pizza Hut location in the Prince
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‘Iconic’ Briland horses battle Gov’t and resort By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net AN “iconic” Harbour Island horse riding business popular with visitors is locked in a furious legal battle with the Government and Pink Sands resort over the land where its facilities are located. Court documents obtained by Tribune Business reveal allegations by Byron Bullard, principal of
B&B Horseback Riding, that he is being “threatened with eviction” from property his business has purportedly occupied for 60 years “and destruction of his stables” if he fails to relocate. However, his bid to bring a Judicial Review challenge against the Government has been rejected by Supreme Court justice, Carla CardStubbs, who in a March 8, 2024, ruling found that Mr
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B&B HORSEBACK RIDING
Deltec’s terminations ‘to realign workforce’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net DELTEC Bank & Trust last night confirmed it has moved “to realign its workforce” via a rightsizing which is said to have resulted in around 11 staff being terminated last week. The Lyford Cay-based institution, responding to Tribune Business inquiries, said it is concentrating on
becoming “an agile, futurefocused international bank” with well-placed sources suggesting the lay-offs were linked to the need to reduce its workforce in the aftermath of its Ansbacher (Bahamas) purchase. “In the ordinary course of business, the bank has made a decision to realign its workforce. This strategic realignment is focused
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THE Government’s political opponents yesterday accused it of creating “a remarkable amount of uncertainty” for businesses and workers by backpedalling over plans to progressively increase NIB contributions. Michael Pintard, the Free National Movement (FNM) leader, and Dr Duane Sands, the party’s chairman, both told Tribune Business it made no sense for the Government to approve just a solitary 1.5 percent rate increase on July 1 when multiple reviews have warned the National Insurance Board’s (NIB) $1.5bn reserve fund will be exhausted come 2028 without greater hikes. The duo, hitting out after the Prime Minister’s Office last week asserted that plans to raise the total NIB contribution rate by 1.5 percentage points every two years for the next two decades had not been approved by Cabinet, despite such a
MICHAEL PINTARD strategy being announced just hours earlier, argued that the Government’s pull back occurred because it had been “spooked” by negative reaction. Dr Sands told this newspaper the situation would be “laughable if it wasn’t so serious; it would be a big joke”, while Mr Pintard said the Government’s rapid reversal undermines the “predictability” that companies and commerce require for the smooth and efficient conduct of business. The latter also urged the Davis administration and NIB to crack down on
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