Heather McKay, founder and manager of The Coppers — a New Kingston-based restaurant — admits that growing up, she was a ‘foodie’ who would celebrate birthdays by going out to eat.

That love for food, and admittedly being used to fine dining, propelled McKay towards starting her first restaurant.

“It used to be Heather’s, which was started in 1984 and I operated it until 2000, when I left to go fly airplanes, and was doing that until 2018 and started this back up in 2020/21,” McKay told the Jamaica Observer about her journey into the food business.

She said she left the restaurant business in 2000 to pursue her desire to become a pilot. She first joined the now-defunct Air Jamaica, before moving on to Caribbean Airlines and then to Fly Jamaica before returning to the restaurant business she knew well, when Fly Jamaica went bankrupt in 2018. But during that 18-year span, she kept the fire burning.

“I never really came out of it fully. I remained in it, still catering, still baking. I had a lighting and sound company. I was still doing weddings while I was flying on a part-time basis. I was taking three to four weddings a year. So I never really came out of the business fully. It has been in my blood. I have been doing this since I was 15,” she continued.

But after Fly Jamaica, McKay said she started eyeing the restaurant business again.

Two years later, she approached the person who owned the property where she originally operated Heather’s and asked for a new lease to restart her restaurant, this time with a different name: The Coppers.

“The Coppers was founded in 2020 but didn’t start operating until 2021,” McKay pointed out. She said she was not concerned about the business starting at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everybody said I was stupid, [and that] nobody is going to come out in the middle of COVID, and I said ‘No, I don’t think that’s true,’ because I believed people were dying for somewhere to go especially given that they could not go to nightclubs or other mass gatherings, but people were still allowed to go to restaurants.”

McKay said she did a slow opening and did not advertise. The restaurant was opened October 30, 2021 with suppliers being supportive, she pointed out.

“From then we have been trying to play catch-up because people just descended on us,” she said.

The Coppers is two restaurants in one: a garden restaurant for casual dining and the cellar for more upscale fine dining.

“People who would go out to nightclubs to have drinks are now coming here, sitting and having dinner and staying until 11, 12 o’clock at nights having drinks. I think it is one of the changes that has come with COVID. I saw it during COVID. So many people said, ‘Heather, do not open during COVID,’ but I just didn’t listen to them and it has worked out. I have a habit of not listening to people,” she said with a smile.

Now as she looks forward, McKay has seen her business grow along with that of her suppliers. Her restaurant is one of the women-owned businesses that have seen strong growth, and are adapting as the restaurant scene changes.

“In the old days we would have table turnover. People don’t want to leave now; they want to stay. So, what you do is extend the dining experience. So, they will come in and have a cocktail and then an appetiser maybe an hour or two later, then they will have their dinner and wait a little while then have dessert and/or coffee, so they are making it a whole dining experience. Because of that now, you can’t turn the tables over as quickly, so you have to adapt. Luckily, we are a large restaurant, so we don’t have to push people out.

“It’s a lot now about how things look, a lot about the ambience which never used to be like that. People are now all about pictures. They want to take pictures of the food, drinks, how the place looks, pictures with them in it. I had to learn the new social media side of the business. I have social media experts who do that. But just setting up photo opportunity areas, it’s something that we are still evolving and still doing, so we grow with the business.

Part of the growth McKay is seeing has pushed her to contemplate expanding.

“We are looking for another location on the north coast in either Montego Bay or Ocho Rios. We are looking for the right location. We want to replicate what we do here in Kingston. Inside and outside dining, two different menus, more high-end casual dining. The location is a challenge because I don’t want to go into a shopping centre because we can’t do this in a shopping centre.”

For her staff, praise is not too much. “They are the best staff in the restaurant business,” she told the Caribbean Business Report. They are counted as the reason behind The Coppers’ success.

“I would like to see it continue as it is. To say I am happy with the business is an understatement because it has exceeded my expectations,” McKay said.

The restaurant has attracted a lot of young clientele.

“I find that that group is so educated when it comes to places opening, and they are so eager and they are so warm, they advertise themselves. TikTok is not something that I was used to. The young people advertised the business on TikTok,” she added.