By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The owners/operators of Café Skans and Olives Meze Grill plan to create several hundred jobs by opening five eateries at Baha Mar and another in Harbour Bay, telling Tribune Business their employee count will ultimately hit close to 400.

“We feel very confident in the Bahamian economy and the tourist market, so we made a very substantial investment,” said Tony Skandaliaris. “We got involved in Baha Mar, which is a really big project.

“We are expecting any day now for them to clear up their issues and we’re ready to go. We also have another project coming out east, another food and beverage concept. There is still a market; it’s just that the market has changed so you have to adapt.”

“We are going to operate five locations in Baha Mar, which is very exciting,” Mr Skandaliaris added. “It’s going to be very demanding. It’s going to be different food and beverage outlets; each one is going to be unique.

“I think we’re going to end up picking up another 300 employees, just for Baha Mar. We’re going to be employing close to 400 people when it’s all said and done.”

As for the family’s Harbour Bay venture, Mr Skandaliaris said: “We’re actually in renovations now. We had to slow down the renovations just because we’re a year delayed with Baha Mar.

“We had a timed opening for everything. Everything has to be right about service .Obviously we got delayed and we had to reshuffle all of our timeframes but we’re almost there. Baha Mar looks fantastic.”

After 42 years on Bay Street, Mr Skandaliaris told Tribune Business that the family-owned Café Skans restaurant would be ‘reinvented’ as an outdoor café to attract cruise ship visitors, given that most of their Bahamian customers had moved away from Bay Street.

Mr Skandaliaris said it was important to get cruise visitors off the ship and give them a product they want. He added that the Government’s decision to approve their outdoor effectively confirmed it understands there is a need for change on Bay Street.