Restaurants of Jamaica (ROJ) is ending the year on a high with the opening of three new restaurants, expanding its networks across the island to a total of 51 as the year comes to an end.

A release on Tuesday informed that the “quick service food giants”, in a move to continue in dominating the industry, has recently opened its three latest restaurants within the space of three weeks.

“ROJ opened the doors to its new Pizza Hut location in Falmouth on November 24 which was followed shortly afterwards by the opening of their Pizza Hut restaurant in May Pen on November 30 bringing the Pizza Hut network size in Jamaica to 13 locations. ROJ within the last few days also opened its second location in May Pen, which opened on December 15, growing its KFC network size to 38,” the release said.

Managing director of Restaurants of Jamaica Mark Myers said that he is excited about the expansive moves of his company.

“We are delighted to have brought the Pizza Hut brand to the community of Falmouth, a community which welcomed the KFC brand so warmly when we opened in December of last year. We are also excited to expand our presence in May Pen by not only introducing the Pizza Hut brand, but by increasing our KFC footprint in the community. Building five new restaurants in the last 12 months speaks not just to our dominance as the leading Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) provider, but also to our commitment to investing in Jamaica, to expanding our reach and impact in the community, and in creating employment opportunities for our fellow Jamaicans,” he said.

The company has also said that they have made significant investments amounting almost to billions of dollars in facilitating expansion operations as well as in providing more employment opportunities for Jamaicans.

“The construction of these three latest restaurants represents an investment of more than $500 million with approximately 120 people being employed across the three locations. In the past year, ROJ has invested nearly $900 million in the construction of its five newest restaurants,” the release noted.

Myers added, “We’re very excited to share the love of pizza across the two new parishes, Trelawny and Clarendon — pizza lovers have been asking for this for a long time and we’re ready to deliver. Pizza Hut is beloved by Jamaicans islandwide and so we are happy to make the world’s best pizza brand available to them. The addition of another KFC in May Pen is a testament to how beloved our brand is in that community.

“Now that KFC and Pizza Hut are officially a part of the Falmouth community and with an expanded KFC presence in May Pen, ROJ sees a unique opportunity to partner, engage with, and uplift the community within the environs of these new restaurants. “In almost five decades of serving Jamaica, we have always valued the importance of not just national but community-level involvement and development,” he added.

ROJ, which is the franchise holder of both KFC and Pizza Hut in the island, began its operations back in 1975 and today boasts itself of being one of the most dominant quick service providers in the Caribbean.

In 2015 the entity was awarded the ‘KFC Market of the Year’ award for Latin America and the Caribbean and again in 2016 and this year with the ‘Pizza Hut Market of the Year’ award.

— Kellaray Miles