ON the south coast of Barbados, the St Lawrence Gap in Christ Church is a must-stop for tourists looking to enjoy the lively nightlife, bubbling restaurants and gorgeous beachfront properties on the island.

The well-known strip, which is also called ‘The Gap’ is home to some of the 4,000 transnational companies that have set up businesses in the destination which markets itself as having an ‘investment-friendly’ climate.

For Jamaican Curtis Cawley, the trip to Barbados was to rebuild someone else’s dream after an ice-cream factory was burnt to the ground in 2009. But that mission quickly changed when Cawley saw the opportunity to build a business of his own on the island.

“During my stay in Barbados, I saw the opportunity to offer Jamaican cuisine to both the locals and the tourists, so I started to do some research on the different dishes and I called friends and family back in Jamaica to find out the best way to prepare the meals,” Cawley said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

A year later, Cawley and his son registered the business Irie Kitchens Limited and started operating from a 700-square-foot facility on 2nd Avenue Dover, off Lawrence Gap.

Today, the restaurant that seats up to 50 patrons has carved out a niche in Barbados from the preparation of jerk pork, jerk chicken, curried chicken, oxtail, ackee and saltfish, roti, banana bread and roast breadfruit dishes.

“About 80 per cent of whom we serve are tourists from Europe and the Caribbean diaspora. It’s quite common to hear our customers say that this is the best food they’ve had in Barbados,” he said.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-report/jamaican-entrepreneur-builds_163196