By Annelia Nixon

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

IHOP and Applebee’s will have locations in Downtown Nassau “before the summer of this year”, according to IHOP’s operations manager.

While speaking on IHOP’s expansion in the Carmichael Road area, Dicrius Ramsey, told Tribune Business that IHOP and Applebee’s will continue expansions.

“We are a little bit behind based on our own intentions because we have an opportunity to also go into Downtown and do something. And also we have Freeport on our books before summer. So IHOP and Applebee’s will be in Downtown and we’ll go into Freeport, and all of that should happen before the summer of this year. So by June, we really expect that the market would be just taken over by the presence of Applebee’s and IHOP, which is pretty much to give the dining public more options, more opportunities.”

He said they are expecting an opening date of early April or late March with the Carmichael branch seating around 110 customers - smaller than the Marathon location. Adding that it will also be 24 hours, he noted that around 80 to 90 new team members will be hired.

“Right now we are in the construction phase of our second location which is located Carmichael Road heading way west… right after you pass Little Giants, that brand new spanking New York style plaza that’s right on the corner,” Mr Ramsey said. “You can’t miss it. Very beautiful. It’s probably going to seat about 110. Going to be open up 24 hours also. We are anticipating early April, maybe late March. But it is under development right now. Good news is, construction is going fine and we anticipate that that will be open and ready for Easter. Definitely ready for Easter.

“It’s been under construction for I would probably say about six weeks. But apparently what happens is it was a plaza that was not designed for a restaurant. And when we took wind of it, now we have to take an existing building and completely reconvert it to fit a restaurant. So it was pretty much just a strip mall, maybe where you put in like a clothing store or a shoe store. Now you can understand when you talk about a restaurant and hoods and drains and air conditions and gas lines, all of that good stuff which would have normally been put in from the very beginning, now we have to go back and retrofit it. So that’s why it’s taken a little while. But we are making good pace. Like I said, we should be ready for Easter for sure. Definitely for Easter. So we can take some of the pressure off Marathon Mall.

“We have a timeline as far as when we start certain things. So once we establish a hard opening date, then we back everything out from there. But normally we would start hiring for the opening about six to eight weeks before the restaurant open up. So technically speaking, really, by Valentine’s Day, by February 14th, we should be well heading in that direction of recruiting and hiring and doing some selection and training.”