COVID lockdowns sucking the flavour out of Farmers Jerk Centre
Published:Friday | September 3, 2021 | 12:07 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
For 20 years, Eugene Grandison has operated Farmers Jerk Centre, Restaurant and Bar in Old Harbour, churning out a platter of tasty dishes in the bustling St Catherine township.
But constant coronavirus curfews and lockdowns since April 2020 have ravaged his business, forcing the restaurateur to slash his workforce as revenues continue to slide.
Wednesday’s announcement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness of extended no-movement days, running from September 5-7 and September 12-14, is bound to evoke more despair as small businesses suffer the brunt of the clampdown on viral infections.
Devon Jemmison can confirm how the business’ fortunes have tanked, as customers like him have found it difficult to patronise Farmers Jerk in the narrow rush hour.
“The timing t’ing a beat mi bad. It usually easier to get food, but the lockdown cause mi fi miss the food still,” Jemmison said.
Farmers Jerk is well known in the southern St Catherine town for its flavourful chicken, pork, and sausages, along with bammies, soups, and other offerings.
“These dishes are prepared from scratch daily. The pandemic is a challenge, but we are determined,” Grandison told The Gleaner.
That resolve has been tested in the coronavirus lockdowns, though reports by the Planning Institute of Jamaica of a 12.9 per cent growth in the April-June quarter are evidence of green shoots that forecast an improved economic climate. However, the economy is still trailing pre-pandemic levels.
More than 135,000 jobs were lost in the early months of the outbreak, but much of those lay-offs have been reversed.
Grandison has not been so lucky. He has had to cut his staff by 50 per cent and reorganise his production routines.
“Before the pandemic, the 10 staff would be working two shifts, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Only five persons working now on alternate weeks. It is a financial challenge,” said the businessman.
Farmers Jerk Centre has relied mainly on evening traffic for its revenues, but the nightly curfews, now as early as 6 p.m. on Saturdays and an hour later in the week, have written off those prospects. The six no-movement days spanning the next two weeks have added pain to his pocketbook.
“I supply them with pork and chicken, but the early daily closure affects us badly. The business keeps persons employed, but it is difficult,’’ Grandison said.
Businesses like Grandison’s depend heavily on face-to-face interaction, having not evolved, like others, with online marketing and purchase options and bike-delivery teams.
The restaurateur is hopeful that Jamaicans will abide by the COVID-19 protocols and rein in infections, which have topped 69,000.
Jamaica’s inoculation campaign has lagged those of its Caribbean neighbours, when analysed per capita, but has picked up steam in recent weeks with hundreds of thousands of vaccines shipped here by its United States and United Kingdom partners.
Just over five per cent of Jamaicans are fully vaccinated.