Island Grill has closed its only outlet in central Kingston, just two years after it opened in the Clock Tower Plaza on Half Way Tree Road, because it lacked visibility.

“We didn’t choose well,” said company CEO Thalia Lyn. “I should’ve known not to open a quick-service restaurant in an upstairs location,” she told the Jamaica Observer. “We just weren’t doing the volume that we needed. People weren’t coming often enough.”

Island Grill Express was launched in 2010 in the Bargain Mall food court, and was the first of its kind for the fast-food chain. The smaller branch featured a walk-up counter rather than a full-sized restaurant, and called for less equipment, fewer staff and shorter hours.

But the initiative wasn’t as successful as the company had projected it would be.

“We need repeat business to keep us going, because we depend on high volume, low margin,” said Lyn. “Even though we didn’t spend as much from our capital point of view, the expenditure to equip a restaurant is still fairly high.”

Despite the recent closure, Island Grill plans to spend over $70 million this year on establishing three new locations across the country, with restaurants in Downtown Kingston, Savanna-la-Mar, and the UTECH Papine campus in the works.

The company is not ruling out another store closer to Half Way Tree in the future, in addition to the flagship store on Constant Spring Road in Twin Gates Plaza, but Lyn said that would require more careful choosing when deciding on a location in the area.

Customers clamouring for an Island Grill in Mandeville will also see a restaurant there, said Lyn, but probably not before the end of the year.

“There is a location that we’re eyeing there but it won’t be ready,” she said, adding that the company gets a lot of requests to open a store in Mandeville. “We’re not retreating, we’re still looking for a good location.”

The chain is aiming to open 15 restaurants in the next 5 years, and recently spent $200 million upgrading its commissary to supply them.

Lyn said there are plans to put out another mobile unit this year to support Island Grill’s catering services, in addition to the one temporarily stationed at the UTECH campus.

Island Grill projects that it will add at least 150 jobs this year alone.