Manager Theo Pikramenos disclosed yesterday that within the next month-and-a-half the eatery would be back in full swing, with a full complement of new staff, after a small refurbishment exercise.
“Within 30 to 45 days we should be open. All of our plans complete and we are expecting our funding to come through which would allow us to do what we have to do to get Conch Fritters back on good footing,” he explained.
When The Guardian first broke the story of its closure in March, sources alleged that the restaurant was in financial crisis. And employees claimed they were owed six weeks in back pay.
Now new information reaching the Guardian indicates that Conch Fritters owed more than $100,000 to the government-owned Bahamas Electricity Corporation.
Confirming the company’s money woes, Mr Pikramenos insisted, however, that the debt is being paid in installments and by the opening date it will all be squared away.
“We are closed because of the BEC issue and not for another reason,” he said. “But we are going to open – we are just trying to decide on an exact date. I am expecting my funding in and I will pay BEC and do some renovations and we will come back stronger than before.”
Mr Pikramenos is mulling over the possibility of utilising the upstairs of the building for a nightclub, but he fears the clientele base for the restaurant might be interrupted.
“Bahamians have always patronised our restaurants, Johnny Canoe, Conch Fritters, so for me to affect that client base I am not really prepared to do that unless I know exactly what is going to take place upstairs.
“I don’t want Bahamians not coming to Conch Fritters because of a club upstairs or because the actual clientele is not what it should be up there. You know clubs have the tendency of drawing a different kind of clientele,” he said.
Mr Pikramenos said “it is very important that we marry both businesses well so there is no conflict from one to the other.”
Conch Fritters Bar and Grill ceased its operation on Feb. 20. “We would be back, so all those who had doubted and written things and speculated, we will be back stronger than ever.”
In the meantime, Mr Pikramenos said whatever staff are owed, they are going to be compensated.
By: KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, The Nassau Guardian
