Turtle Bay Caribbean Concept Aiming For Five Restaurants By End Of The Year

Ajith Jaya-Wickrema, a founder of the Latin themed Las Iguanas format, has reported a strong start for his new Caribbean themed restaurant concept and is set to announce two further site acquisitions.
Jaya-Wickrema opened his first Caribbean themed restaurant in Milton Keynes at Frontier Estates The Hub:MK mixed-use development at the end of last year. The 3,000 sq ft site was acquired by leisure specialist agent Restaurant Property.

Restaurant Property director Jason Grant said: “This fantastic Caribbean fusion of fresh food, cocktails, music and friendly service with a stylish fit-out is a very attractive offering.”

Jaya-Wickrema said: “Since Turtle Bay’s opening in November the restaurant has traded particularly well. The concept seems also to have gained approval from landlords as we are shortly to report on two further acquisitions. Landlords are very keen to have well known high street brands in their schemes. But the more sophisticated ones are also realising that there are dangers in the same offerings being replicated across the UK. Rather than creating clone schemes they are increasingly keen to generate a more interesting mix which brings in new formats and refreshes their offering. We have been a beneficiary of this trend.”

Jaya-Wickrema has been looking for sites of between 3,000 sq ft and 4000 sq ft in the south of the country and in the Midlands. He declined to go into detail on the two new sites but one is understood to be in Southampton. He hopes to acquire a further two to three sites by the end of the year