New KFC doesn’t worry St Thomas cooks

So 'finger licking good' is the food at Richie's Chicken and Chips restaurant in St Thomas that it is referred to as the 'KFC of Yallahs'.

The small establishment is snuggled among other shops on the Buchannan Plaza in Yallahs square and is run by Robert 'Richie' Lamont and his wife.

But there is a newly opened KFC in Harbour View, St Andrew, just on the outskirts of St Thomas. Hanover and St Thomas are the only parishes without what has become a coveted fast-food stop.

But Lamont remains confident that the internationally renowned and locally appraised restaurant will be no match for his highly talked-about fried chicken and French fries.

"Everybody have them customer, and everybody have them taste. My taste is different from KFC. Yes, the new place open, and yu know people a guh duh dem likkle 'tryouts' and things like that, but differently, mi nuh really feel threatened," he said. "Plus, Harbour View is kind of a far way from us. A only like the working-class people weh work a town would probably stop and buy on them way home. But yu naw guh have people a leave Yallahs guh Harbour View fi guh buy KFC."

He told THE WEEKEND STAR that his chicken spot serves some 70 people on a good day and that though it's a 'buy-and-go' small shop, people have no problem waiting.

healthier way

He said: "KFC or not, Richie's Chicken and Chips will maintain its name as the Yallahs KFC. Its standard food and its customers have steadily been building since our establishment some four years ago."

Also resting easy despite the new KFC outlet are the pan-chicken vendors at the famous Yallahs Jerk Centre.

"A whole heap of jerk man deh a Kingston, weh full a KFC and other choices, and one jerk man all a use three pans still, so it all depends on how you do your ting. Plus, nuff people nowadays prefer to go the healthier way. Not everybody aguh want the bag of oil, oil every day. We good, man," one vendor, who gave his name as Bogle, said.

Another 'jerk man' noted that there was a KFC outlet in Rockfort, very close to Harbour View, "and it neva did a trouble we, suh it naw guh start trouble we now".

But he said: "If one come a St Thomas now, a problem! Mi nuh business wah anybody waa bawl and seh but mi nuh want none ya!"

THE W EEKEND STAR reached out to KFC and asked brand manager Andrei Roper if the franchise had any plans for St Thomas.

Roper, via email, said: "As it relates to St Thomas, we continue to look for opportunities for expansion, and our intention is to get to St Thomas, and to service the parish of St Thomas more directly in the future."

Roper noted that the Harbour View outlet is the 37th and that the Restaurants of Jamaica group (KFC and Pizza Hut) "will continue our expansion as we have earmarked two additional stores in the next couple of months, one on West Kings House Road and one on Washington Boulevard".