There are some love stories that showcase the human spirit of determination in the face of great odds. And when a business owner falls deeply in love with his brand and believes deeply in the profits that a properly managed brand can bring, then there appears that no amount of application forms, application fees, rejected bank loan requests, government regulations and the like can prevent a determined entreprenuer from being successful.

When you listen to Chilitos co-owner Christopher Boxe’s story of the cost in time, legal fees and bureaucracy to move the restaurant from the lower part of Hope Road near Hillcrest Avenue to upper Hope Road near Sovereign Centre, you wonder why they didn’t just call it a day.

Why fight with regulatory agencies to wait six months for one approval letter to go from Cross Roads to Half-Way-Tree? Why not just get a job and call it a day? Why borrow from friends and family when the banks wouldn’t give you the time of day?

Well, after two years of owning the business first started by the children of a Jamaican father and a Mexican mother, Boxe and his business partner are reaping the rewards.

Now part of the Branson Centre scale-up programme, Chilitos has proven its brand value and is in the process of expansion.

Dennise Williams (DW): What was it about the Chilitos brand that attracted you to want to own it?

Christopher Boxe (CB): Chilitos was a brand that embodies openness, empathy, flavour and fun. These attributes seemed to have developed organically through a combination of the personalities and events that shaped it over its formative years. These were very similar to our personal values, and combined with our history with the brand it seemed like a very natural fit.

DW: How did you know it was worth the gamble to go forward, especially when you received notice to quit only months after buying the business?

CB: The gamble we took was based on the initial responses people had to our stewardship of the brand. We knew two things: people want quality and consistency. Also people (customers) are always attracted to authenticity, and Chilitos is authentic to itself. We knew we just had to figure out how to make everyone else see it for what we did.

DW: For young people who want to get into business, your story is scary. How would you encourage them to keep going in the face of financial losses and red tape?

CB: One of the strongest assets any entrepreneur can possess is self-awareness — knowing your own strengths and weaknesses is key to managing yourself and also to building out an effective team. That played a large part in giving us the confidence and tools to push through.

DW: What support system did you have to keep going? How were you certain it was worth your time?

CB: Family, friends that are family. Both myself and Craig are extremely lucky to have very supportive social circles. Our lives have always had a mix of family and friends that understands and supports us. We were never certain it was worth our time, but we believed that it was and reminded ourselves what we believed in. As such, we acted accordingly.

DW: What is your view on how the policymakers can help businesses grow in Jamaica, especially those with a proven brand?

CB: Access to information is key! There are facilities out there and support. What we’ve found is no one in government seems to have all the information. So you find that opportunities get underused due to lack of information. We are a small country, we don’t have an infinite number of businesses to incubate. If we could find a way to centralise helpful data, in place that had equal access…

DW: Let us look at the restaurant industry in Jamaica. It is very competitive and the staff turnover is high. What is your approach to building your brand and ensuring that you retain the best staff?

CB: Firstly, we try to hire in line with our brand values at every level, not just on the customer service roles. Our brand values include empathy and open-mindedness. We’ve found that this results in highly trainable staff; that combined with the right training programme and incentive programmes, it cuts the turnover rate. Secondly, we believe in investing into the well-being of our team. For example, we just concluded a “wellness workshop” with CENTRED, a therapeutic practice that offers psycological interventions dealing with social and emotional difficulties as well as corporate workshops, run by Chalanie Stiebel and Jessica Thompson. The goal of the workshop was to empower our team with tools of mindfulness, to assist them in moving through the workplace with empathy, and to help them better understand their own needs and that of colleagues and customers.

DW: Where do you see Chilitos in the next five years?

CB: To be a self-actualised brand operating throughout the region, delivering our JaMexican food, culture, products and vibes.