In 2004 Jason RUSSELLl began working in his family’s business, Pier 1 restaurant, bar and nightclub in Montego Bay, after completing his college education in the United States. The business was founded by his father Robert Russell and then eventually managed by his older siblings Robin and Peta-Gay before transitioning to the stewardship of himself and his sister Anna-Kaye.

Pier 1 has become somewhat of an institution in Jamaica’s second city through its incredible longevity as one of Montego Bay’s most successful entertainment hotspots since 1988. The family has also been heavily involved in Montego Bay’s entertainment culture for decades being co-founders of the city’s mega-musical events, Jazz Festival and Sumfest, which have seen numerous high profile celebrities attracting thousands of patrons over the years to unforgettable performances.

Russell has worked in all these ventures including the family’s most recent enterprise, the Deja Resort on the Hip Strip in Montego Bay. But Russell’s primary role has been to run Pier 1. It has been a rewarding job that has provided the 41-year-old married father of three with a wealth of valuable experiences.

Q10: How has working with family influenced your view of what family means?

RUSSELL: Family for me means all hands on deck. You share in the pain and you share in the pleasure. Family in business for me means you don’t go home at night until everybody is safe and sound and the job is done. That is something you don’t usually get in a non-family atmosphere. People and individuals have their own goals. In a family business the goals are more aligned so you know if this needs to be accomplished then everybody must stay back and nobody is left behind. That is encouraging. You always know that people have your back. You always know that your goals are the same. It helps with motivation.

Q10: Pier 1 has been around since 1986. What in your opinion has allowed it to last so long as a restaurant, bar and nightclub?

RUSSELL: I think a big factor is succession planning. We’ve managed to pass the business down from generation to generation.We try to keep the business current especially in an entertainment-type setting where you have to be current, you have to be active, you have to be fresh and innovative all the time. The fact that we manage to transition the baton from person to person helps us to stay relevant. It helps to keep the energy high which helps to keep the offering, the service and what we believe in high and so we stay current with the marketplace.

Q10: What is your favourite part of the job?

RUSSELL: Meeting new people and the dynamic nature of the entertainment business. I grew up as a deejay playing music, so to still be able to be this close to the entertainment business and for it to be a profitable venture is rewarding.

Q10: You are around music and partying all the time. Who is your favourite Jamaican musical artiste and why?

RUSSELL: I would have to say Chronixx at this point because he has demonstrated that you don’t have to appeal to the negative nature of mankind to be successful in the current times. It is easy to sing about killing or anything lewd and abrasive, and people gravitate towards it and it gets a lot of acclaim and a lot of publicity, but for someone to sing about positivity and still manage to be relevant and hugely successful takes a certain level of skill and, of course, it is entertaining.

Q10: There are customers who have been coming to Pier 1 for many years. What keeps a customer loyal?

RUSSELL: More listening than talking. Listen to your customer and he will tell you what it takes to get him to stay and come back over time. Listen to him. Take the time out to shake his hand and find out if he is OK. If from time to time he is not OK, which can be expected because he comes here every week, at least you listen to him and acknowledge what he is saying. Anytime in any business that you stop listening to your customers you start to lose your core.

Q10: What do you do on a day off?

RUSSELL: I fish and I try to spend some time with the family. I have three young kids so anytime I get a chance I try to spend some time with them.

Q10: What in your opinion has been your family’s greatest contribution to Montego Bay?

RUSSELL: Entertainment. We brought stability to entertainment in Montego Bay. We were instrumental in Jazz Festival and Sumfest. We have shows here at Pier 1 as well as the Pier 1 Friday night and Wednesday night entertainment. Our basic overall entertainment package has been internationally acclaimed. People come to the island and expect a certain level of production, or they don’t, but they receive it. They receive a certain level and I think we were instrumental in that. In the early part, we were one of the top places where tourists could come and be wowed. This was before Margaritaville and a lot of the brands that are around now. So we brought entertainment to a certain level and beyond. Jazz Festival and Sumfest drew a massive amount of revenue to the city so I would say we have really been instrumental in entertainment and we have kind of owned it.

Q10: Looking at your experience so far is there anything you would have done differently since you started working?

RUSSELL: Not one thing.

Q10: What’s the hardest part of working with family every day, every week and every month?

RUSSELL: The hardest part is that you can’t separate your emotions from the task or from work. That attachment always seems to factor in. The family element is in every scenario. You might want to be like ‘oh I am going home now and I worked hard all day’ but sometimes you can’t leave at night because your brother is here or your sister is still here so you end up staying back to just make sure they are OK. I don’t have any horror stories from working with family. I know some exist out there. We live well together as Russells. We party together. We leave work and party together. I don’t think we have had a situation where we are tired of each other or getting on each other’s nerves

Q10: Do you consider yourself to be a highly competitive person in the business environment?

RUSSELL: We never use that word ‘competitive’. That’s a word we don’t factor into anything we are doing. We don’t think of anybody, especially locals, as competition. We do believe in the model that more bars and places that open up like us make the destination more viable and profitable. I am a true fan of Las Vegas in the middle of a desert and they have managed just by adding multiple hotels and multiple casinos and multiple number one clubs in one space, making it one of the number one destinations in the world. So I believe 10 more Pier 1s could see 20 times the amount of people coming here. So we never use the word ‘competition’. We always focus on doing well for ourselves and if we find ourselves losing traction we always look internally. We say we must have done something wrong or we are not doing something right and we try to fix it internally. We never blame the man next door.

— Compiled by Alexis Monteith