In the days following Hurricane Melissa’s assault on western Jamaica, Montego Bay found itself grappling with power outages, blocked roads, and the emotional weight of uncertainty. The hurricane’s punishing sweep left the usually bustling Hip Strip a mix of fallen trees, flood ravaged stores and anxious residents trying to make sense of everything in the aftermath. But amid the disruption, one landmark quietly reopened its doors, offering not just meals, but comfort, connection and a reminder of community resilience.

The Pelican Grill — a Montego Bay institution for more than 60 years — welcomed its first post-storm customers three days after Melissa passed. Despite sustaining damage to sections of its roof, electronic equipment with flood damage to ceiling and furniture, Managing Director Peter Scudamore said reopening was important for the community.

“This is our 61st year of operations. So, we have multi-generational customers, and they say we’re a Montego Bay institution, which we humbly accept by providing that level of service to our customers. We were able to offer a familiar space, with full power, water and telecom connectivity as we had water reserves, generator system and a Starlink already in place for such redundancies. For our customers getting pretty much the sort of service they would have had before the hurricane was a big boost,” Scudamore explained.

“It was the little things that we found that mattered so much to our customers, just being able to enjoy an air-conditioned space, make
WhatsApp calls, seeing a friendly face and have a drink with ice. Simple things but it was a big difference. The reaction from customers was overwhelming as they kept saying thank you, and I’m wondering for what, as we’re just providing a service. But [in] these simple things they felt we were going above and beyond. In all of this, we had to remember our staff as well; they were traumatised and suffered loss just like the customers. However, they know what the Pelican means to the community and they were happy to come and get things going,” Scudamore added.

The challenges after the hurricane persist and the level of uncertainty as to when things will return is palpable.

“On a personal level I had experienced Gilbert and thought that was the worst I was going to see. Melissa made Gilbert look like nothing. We opened pretty much the next day after Gilbert but this one was really scary as it tore up the community. To be able to provide a service was good, wasn’t 100 per cent, but it was still something that everyone appreciated and a way of getting people to some sort of normalcy. Our suppliers in St James for eggs, vegetables, bananas and other items, their operations are devastated. Now we have to source as far as St Mary, St Catherine and Kingston for supplies. It is a lot of hard work behind the scenes to make this happen,” Scudamore stated.

“It has been a challenge, both getting it and of course the escalation in price. We have been able to hold everything and probably that’s a part of stabilising our customers by not making price changes,” Scudamore surmised.

He remains optimistic and grateful, though, despite the challenges.

“I want to thank the men and women from the various Government agencies for their hard work during the recovery efforts as it was a colossal disaster. Also want to recognise that a lot of people are still hurting, so have a little empathy, a big dose of patience and have hope that things will improve,” Scudamore concluded.

The Pelican Grill

Jimmy Cliff Blvd

Montego Bay, St James

876-952-3171

Curry goat with rice and vegetables Aceion Cunningham

Jerk chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables Aceion Cunningham

Fried chicken with French fries and vegetables Aceion Cunningham

Oxtail with vegetables, rice and peas Aceion Cunningham

Pelican team members (from left) Marshall Meikle, executive chef; Nadine Hamilton, supervisor; and Kevin Smith, head cook. Aceion Cunningham

Peter Scudamore (right), managing director, Pelican, shares a photo op with team members Manley McKenzie (left), acting supervisor, and Donovan Downer, waiter. Aceion Cunningham

A section of the dining area inside The Pelican Aceion Cunningham