Hospitality graduate Lauren Tomlinson yesterday announced she will open a vegan café in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Tomlinson,

who attended the prestigious Les Roches private hospitality school in

Switzerland, made the announcement during the Jamaica Observer’s webinar

series, The Future… Is Ours”.

According to Tomlinson, her café will be called La La’s Nutmeg and will be located under the roof of her mother, Anna-Kay Tomlinson’s, popular restaurant, Miss T’s Kitchen.

Tomlinson

shared that the transition to university was not immediate, noting took a gap

year to travel the world.

While

she was not yet ready for university, school, she said the offer from the

prestigious institution was hard to refuse offer.

“ I did a few projects in my second gap year, both

international and local, and then I got contacted by the only university that I

applied to when I left high school and they said ‘You’re not coming to Les

Roches?’, which is the number two hospitality school in the world. And I was like, ‘I am just not ready

yet,” Tomlinson shared.

“And

then they said, ‘Well, we’ll offer you a scholarship without application and

then I became the first student to receive the Caribbean Hotel Tourism

Association scholarship,” added Tomlinson.

She said

that though initially hesitant, she quickly became immersed in the activities at Les

Roche swhere she was a part of the school’s ambassador programme and was

later picked by its board to participate in the Michelin Star Chefs event.

Upon her

return to Jamaica, Tomlinson decided to veer from helping her mother to starting her venture which encompasses

lessons from time abroad and her lifestyle change.

“I have

been vegan for two years of my life, which is the best decision I have

ever made,” shared Tomlinson .

“I get to put all my passions into one, I get to share my passion for the vegan lifestyle and I get to show people that it is possible for vegan food to be yummy,” added Tomlinson.