A clearly satisfied foodie friend informed us of a new find. “You have to check it out,” was the prompt. Fast-forward to a few days later and we are on location at DVine Living Essentials (DLE) Café, which opened its doors three months ago in the urbane shopping district of Fairview in Montego Bay. The café serves up healthy options with an emphasis on making them tasty and enjoyable.

“We are part of the revolution that believes healthy should not taste bad, but taste really good. People have beliefs that healthy foods taste bad and immediately have a block, and we are changing that. Apart from making healthy taste good we are big on customer service; we are forming relationships with our customers and not just giving someone something to eat. We try to get to know our customers very well; our service is personalised. We ask about allergies, likes and dislikes; receipts have our customers’ names, so we address them by name, and we encourage our customers to express themselves on our wall,” explained Desrene Grant-Anderson, managing director, DLE Café.

“Originally, I wanted to do options that included fried foods, pizzas and wings, but after checks, the competitive analysis showed that options like that [already]existed in Fairview and maybe it would be best if we went with different but healthier choices. So I started talking to Desrene, and with her take on food and my knowledge of the business side of things, we put our ideas together and that led us to be doing different very well,” explained Andre Dixon, COO, Viking Productions.

The eatery offers a wide range of smoothies and menu options, which include wraps, salads, paninis, flatbreads, jerk chicken, granola bars, algae balls, vegan and raw foods, cornmeal and potato puddings, with breakfast options, crêpes, in-house-styled coffee drinks, and barbeque chicken to be added shortly.

“Our meal options, especially our wraps, are doing really well. We don’t do regular; for instance, our chicken wraps don’t only have Romaine lettuce and tomato, we include carrots, cucumber, sweet bell peppers, pineapples, mango and avocado when in season because we are big on making our food nutrient-dense for our customers. All our food is done to order and made fresh every day, and there is just no compromise on our quality,” Anderson pointed out.

“The key thing for us is that our customers are happy and they have found a space where they can relax with their family. We have great options for everyone including children, and couples love our cosy atmosphere and great music. Our space is just one of positive energy in a safe environment with clean, healthy food,” added Anderson.

Loyalty cards are available. Other specials include ‘Mi Amigo Mondays’: if persons bring a friend, they get 50% off their purchase; and ‘Thanksgiving Thursdays’: if you can list five things you are grateful for you get discounts on your purchase. Plans are also in place to put in a stage for live music and poetry nights, a DLE Elite Club for specials and a Mason jar recycling project.

“I want persons to leave knowing they didn’t just have a meal but an experience, and key to achieving that is listening to our customers,” concluded Anderson.