ON Thursday, December 10, foods distributor, manufacturer and quick-service restaurant (QSR) franchisee Wisynco Foods Limited opened two new restaurants at the Sovereign Village Plaza in Portmore, itself a new development by the Loshusan family.

The Domino’s and Wendy’s located on Braeton Parkway, next door to the Bank of Nova Scotia, are expected to create more than 50 new jobs in the Portmore community, Sean Scott, CEO of Wisynco Foods Limited, said. The two stores represent a combined J$75-m investment. Wisynco now operates five Wendy’s and 13 Domino’s across Jamaica.

Set as the anchor tenant in the new Sovereign Village Plaza, the new Wendy’s store features what Scott describes as the newest image activation, with both indoor and outdoor seating, drive-thru and al fresco dining patio. The adjoining Domino’s features the “Pizza Theatre” format, with an open kitchen that allows each customer to see their pizza being made by hand, from scratch, with fresh, never frozen dough and premium toppings, he said.

“Portmore is a great location due to its sheer size and growing population trajectory. It also has a young population of millennials and young professional families who unfortunately lack options for high-quality, wholesome entertainment activities,” Scott told the

Jamaica Observer.“As a leading QSR, you cannot afford to not be in Portmore. So building our first Wendy’s was a no-brainer.

Domino’s itself has been in the Portmore community for over 15 years. The second location will meet rising demand and improve service levels, Scott said.

The CEO boasted: “Specifically, we are thrilled to be the anchor tenant in the beautiful, new Sovereign Village Plaza on Braeton Parkway, designed by renowned architect Clifton Yapp and developed by Gladstone Loshusan and family. The Loshusans have a proven record of raising the bar with their retail developments and Progressive supermarkets. Their vision is a great fit with that of our brands and makes for a perfect partnership. Sovereign Village will become the hotspot in Portmore for shopping and entertainment in the years to come.”

Scott noted that over the past 12 months, company analysis of the market shows that the quick-service restaurant segment is experiencing an uptick in transactions.

“This is largely as a result of greater stability in the value of the Jamaican dollar which has allowed the industry players to keep prices to consumers stable. In addition, the reduction in energy costs have boosted spending capacity of our guests, increasing the frequency with which they can afford to eat out of the home,” Scott stated.

That aside, he stated, “We believe both Wendy’s and Domino’s brands have recently outperformed the market due to specific initiatives we’ve put in place.”

In September 2015, for Wendy’s, Wisynco launched an internal service campaign called “Go Beyond”.

“We broke apart each part of the consumer experience – from parking, entering the store, waiting in line, ordering, to walking to your car – and asked the question: ‘How can we make the guest experience better?’ ‘Why should we do it like this?’ This has resulted in a strategic plan with several changes coming down the pipeline, the first of which is the creation of ‘Guest Service Ambassadors’ in each Wendy’s lobby.”

Scott said the ambassadors are akin to “front of house” managers seen in traditional, table-service, sit-down restaurants, whose number one job is to “make customers happy”.

He said that Wisynco has also worked hard to keep pricing affordable, “through working with suppliers and also deciding to make less profit on every order in an effort to build a broader base of heavy Wendy’s users”.

“Right now our most popular Dave’s Hot N Juicy Cheese Burger is only $490. You can either add a 20oz beverage to that for $110, or make it a full combo with fries and drink for just $150. You can also get a Supa Deal for just $395, which comes with a junior sandwich, 4 piece nuggets and 16 oz parent company as the best performing “value campaign’ in Latin American and the Caribbean in 2015 and has attracted new customers to our stores.”

The CEO said greater affordability has also allowed to enter communities with a broader socio-economic profile mix. “This will allow us to accelerate new store openings,” he stated, adding that Wendy’s was now more “affordable in comparison to other dining options, such as Burger King, KFC and Island Grill. Customers are taking notice and are choosing to visit us more often”.

On the Domino’s side, Wisynco launched in February an online ordering platform,

www.dominos.com.jm, and upgraded the franchise’s telephone systems so that Domino’s could improve service.

“No more not getting through to the store on a Friday night, no more waiting on hold, no more repeating your order to a representative with a busy, noisy background. With just a few clicks your pizza is on the way,” Scott quipped, noting that customers can track the progress of orders through the company’s online “Pizza Tracker”. “So you know when it’s left the store. You can also create a profile to make it even easier to reorder your favourite pizza.”

Scott said the recent growth in transactions has improved profit, “but our focus at this time is not short-term profit. Instead, we have a laser focus on building as wide and as loyal a base of consumers across Jamaica for both Domino’s and Wendy’s. If we do that successfully, greater profits will follow”.

Key partnerships in improving results for Wendy’s included Brian Jardim and the Rainforest Seafoods team “who became our beef supplier from their new state-of-the art beef plant over two years ago.

“Brian and his team have worked closely with us to collectively make better raw material-buying decisions and accept production recommendations from the Wendy’s global system to improve production yields. This has resulted in our ability as partners to keep Wendy’s affordable and help to grow both our businesses side by side,” Scott commented.