MONTEGO BAY, St James — Falmouth Chicken’s $45-million investment in a store at City Centre Shopping Mall in Montego Bay has created more than 20 jobs, pushing the number of employees at its three locations to 50. Those numbers are expected to climb even further when three more stores are opened before year end.

“Our plan for the rest of the year is to expand a store in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland; one in Ocho Rios, St Ann; and a drive-through in Trelawny,” revealed Christopher Jobson, CEO and founder of Chris Service Restaurant, the parent company of Falmouth Chicken.

The Trelawny native said plans are well advanced for the additional venues.

“We want to find a suitable location in Savanna-la-Mar to set up a drive-through facility,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

The newest location at City Centre in Montego Bay joins Falmouth Chicken’s headquarters on Duke Street in Falmouth and a store on Barnett Street in the western city. The company’s Operations Manager Yanique Smith told the Observer that more than 500 applications were received to fill the vacancies that were available at the newly opened eatery.

“We got a lot of applicants who were from the hotel sector… We did a three-day interview process to go through applicants and we are still receiving applications. We have persons from stores like MegaMart, that hasn’t reopened as yet, but the majority [of applications] came from the hotel sector,” she said.

This is because a number of hotels have temporarily closed their doors as they recover and rebuild from last October’s Hurricane Melissa, leaving many workers out of a job until they reopen.

The availability of trained staff worked in Falmouth Chicken’s favour.

“We started Friday, March 13, and luckily we had [adequate] staff so we could manage the crowd and manage the expectations. The response has been overwhelming, persons are saying that they wanted a difference. They are glad that we are here,” Smith said.

“On Saturday we had persons waiting outside for us to open before 10:00 am. They stood there outside waiting for us to open to serve them and it was a steady flow throughout both days,” she added.

Since the opening of the latest store, operators have added a free toy as a gift to customers purchasing kids meals. Other options on the menu include fried chicken meals and Vybz Wow, a mashed potato and corn dish whose name pays homage to the company’s history. The first store by Chris Service Restaurant was established in Falmouth in 2006 as Vybz Pizza but transformed into Falmouth Chicken in December 2023.

SMITH… we got a lot of applicants who were from the hotel sector.

Falmouth Chicken employees outside the newly opened outlet at City Centre Shopping Mall in Montego Bay, St James.