The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

AML Foods yesterday said its second Carl’s Jr location was producing “amazing” sales numbers, with the wait for the correct locations already paying off.

Gavin Watchorn, the BISX-listed food retail and franchise group’s chief executive, said the roll-out of the hamburger chain from its initial site had “taken much longer than we had expected”.

He added that AML Foods had held its nerve, and waited for the right location opportunities to emerge, rather than jump at the first site it saw or was offered.

Mr Watchorn said the strategy was already starting to pay dividends, based on the figures generated by the second Carl’s Jr location at the Mall at Marathon’s food court, which only opened last month.

“Our store at the Mall at Marathon has been amazing; the numbers have far exceeded expectations,” Mr Watchorn told Tribune Business. “Hopefully, that will continue on to January. We feel very good about Carl’s, and feel it will do very well.”

Although unable to detail how many jobs had been created at the Mall of Marathon location, Mr Watchorn confirmed that the franchise was set to create more employment this month with the opening of Carl’s Jr’s third location on Carmichael Road.

“It always had traction,” the AML chief executive said of the brand. “But you need volume in the franchise business.

“The second and third store have taken much longer than we had expected. But it’s better to wait for the right store and right location, than opening up just for the sake of it.

“There were many locations we looked at, and many offers were made to us, but for different reasons they weren’t right for us. At the Mall at Marathon and Carmichael Road, we have two locations we are very confident in, and think the brand is growing.”

Mr Watchorn said “sales have been very strong” at Carl’s Jr’s inaugural New Providence location, opposite the Mall at Marathon and R. M. Bailey Park, and adjacent to AML Foods’ Solomon’s SuperCentre location.

“Sales have been growing quite nicely this financial year, and with the two locations coming on stream within six weeks of each other, the sales growth is going to come and increase quite significantly,” he added.

Mr Watchorn told Tribune Business that construction work on AML Foods’ Solomon’s Yamacraw site was set to move “full steam ahead”, with the store “still on track” for a November 2017 opening.

“You’ll see pretty significant progress on the site over the next 60 days,” he promised.