BirdShack Jamaica eyes 15 stores in medium term
Company opens third store in Montego Bay
Published:Friday | February 9, 2024 | 12:12 AMAvia Collinder - Business Writer
If investing partners in the Jamaican franchise holder of BirdShack have their way, there will be at least 15 stores in Jamaica by the end of 2026, including one in every major town in the island.
On February 7 Arya QSR, holders of the BirdShack franchise in Jamaica, opened the third location in Montego Bay, sited on Barnett Street opposite the transportation centre, a facility which takes people out of the city.
Since 2022, spending on store openings by parent company Arya Holdings is upward of $400 million.
CEO Wayne Cummings told the Financial Gleaner, “We opened at four o'clock yesterday. It was fantastic just watching the people around the park just coming in. There are literally thousands who use the park. I do not need to analyse [the potential of the locale].”
Cummings is CEO of Arya Holdings and has partnered with Omar Robinson and Robert Headley – the other company principals – to roll out the quick service store concept as rapidly as funding and time will allow.
They are the franchise holders under United States (US)-based fast food franchise BirdShack Fried Chicken, which features proprietary seasonings, breading and cooking processes, offering on its menu original, spicy and BBQ options in fried chicken meals, with sides including fries and potato wedges.
The Jamaican stores are operated by franchise holder Arya QSR, a subsidiary of Arya Holdings Limited which opened its first fried chicken store in Whitter Village Shopping Mall in Rose Hall, Montego Bay, in March 2022 at a cost of $35 million.
Arya Holdings is also the holding company for Arya Resorts Management Company Limited, a tourism and hospitality consultancy firm established in 2020.
Today the franchise holder is preparing to open the fourth store in Ocho Rios, with a fifth planned for Drax Hall in May.
Arya's main business covers hospitality consultation services to include management of hotel and resort properties, property turnarounds, service quality, team member training and recruitment, and hospitality supply chain management.
Cummings commented: “We are in the business of tourism mainly but we decided to go into the food business as diversification. We loved everything about it [BirdShack] because of the menu and colour.”
The first store at Whitter Village occupied only 600 square feet of cooking and service space. The stores opened in 2024 will feature customer dining areas, however, and are much larger.
Relating to Whitter Village, Cummings says, “We were catching our practice. It is small but it has grown into a nice business just two doors away from KFC and other quick service restaurants. Every month it continues to surprise us.”
BirdShack is going up against KFC and Popeyes, the other big fried chicken outlets on the island.
Cummings told the Financial Gleaner, “We are getting invitations from everywhere. However, Drax Hall is its next destination, where it will open beside the Knutsford transport centre.
Opening for this locale in St Ann is projected for May, as the concept he outlined requires at least three months for development and location in each area.
Meanwhile, the company continues to lock down desirable locations.
The new stores in St Ann, he stated, will determine if the concept has legs and will stand on its own outside of a conurbation like Montego Bay.
The Ocho Rios store is costing the company in the region of $75 million and Arya is planning to open its doors on February 29.
The fast rollout of stores are being financed Cummings said by a mix of debt and equity, comprising mostly debt.
Mayberry investment has been the company's primary fundraiser, raising bonds for some stores which were all successful.
The CEO said, “The financial market is excited about BirdShack. We successfully raised a bond for Barnett Street and Ocho Rios and we expect to continue by that means as we move forward.
“We have a commitment to the brand to open a minimum of nine stores by the end of 2026. But internally we aim for more than that. If the current trajectory holds, we will be looking at more than 15 stores.”
Cummings added: “Ocho Rios will be our biggest yet, located at the end of the Ocho Rios bypass plaza on a site where FESCO is located.”
The store is 3,000 square feet and will feature an ice cream corner as well.
“We decided to go big, not small and insignificant. We looked at the propensity for fried chicken in Jamaica which is amazing. I think fried chicken should be Jamaica's national dish. We started in Montego Bay because that is where we are based. We started with Ironshore with it's middle income but benefited greatly from tourist workers as well,” he said. “We were invited by Barnett Tech Park.''
The tech park store cost $75 million for the operation which faces the main road.
The third store, located on Barnett Street, cost $55 million.
Cummings outlined that most of the investment is in fryers, stating, “It's a high capex project.”
BirdShack equipment includes a kettle fryer that is unique to BirdShack.
“The meat is tender, and the oil residue is greatly reduced by the process,” Cummings states.
Cummings admitted that he is going head to head with KFC, the premier fried chicken franchise in Jamaica.
“I have nothing bad to say about our competitors, I know some of them have long lines. We are just here to take our little piece of the pie,” he shared.
In the meantime, he notes, “We are getting invitations from property owners all across the country. My promise to the other parishes and towns is that BirdShack is focused on being in every province and town soon enough.”