Too Many Restaurants On Cayman’s Menu?
From Cayman Net News (June 1st) It is a general belief that competition is a good thing for business, but there are a growing number of people who feel that Grand Cayman has reached saturation point when it comes to the number of restaurants. In an island community where tourism is not growing at a significant rate, there are only a certain number of people in the Cayman Islands for the various restaurants. With so many restaurants trying to attract a limited number of potential customers it seems inevitable that some will ultimately face closure. One establishment that has fallen foul of the intense competition for patrons is Ernestos, which recently closed down. “The small number of people on the Island have so much choice. In a small radius around George Town and Seven Mile Beach you have a great number of quality restaurants and bars,” said Ernestos’ owner Dr Frank McField. “Competition for customers among the different restaurants and bars on the Island is fierce.” Dr McField said there are just too many restaurants in Grand Cayman’s current market and feels it is a situation that will not improve in the immediate future. “Competition is unbearable and I think it will get worse in the next year,” he said. With several new eating establishments expected to be opened throughout the year, in addition to the numerous restaurants planned for the Camana Bay development, Dr McField could well be right. Not alone in his assessment of the current state of the market, other restaurant owners have expressed similar views. Thai Orchid owner and local artist Suladda said that there seems to be a very small drop in restaurant business recently. “I have noticed a slight decrease in numbers of late,” she said. According to Suladda, the majority of her customers are residents on the Island and as such she does not generally notice a large drop during the off-season. She does however suggest that there are currently enough restaurants on the Island and feels further additions would spread the customers too thinly between the various establishments. “There are only so many people on the Island,” she said. As well as the limited number of potential customers, Dr McField also feels there has been a notable decrease in public spending in restaurants. “There seems to have been a slowing down in resident patronage and people don’t seem to spend so freely on eating in restaurants,” he said. While the amount of restaurants seems to be already at an optimum level, the Island bars seem to be experiencing business as usual coming into the off-season. Incorrectly rumoured to be closing, Billy Bones Bar is currently going through a few changes in policy but has no plans to close, either permanently or for the off-season. Recent changes with regards to use of the pool within the Treasure Island condos complex have affected the bar, but it is felt this and the off-season are the only two current factors. Owner Joy Papineau said that the slowing down during summer is just part of the business on the Island. “This time of year it always tails off and then usually around Pirates Week it picks up again,” she said. Jason Moir, Manager of Aqua Beach, also believes that the bar industry does appear to be in decline. “There’s been nothing unusual this year,” he said. While the industry may not be in decline, at the same time it is not seeing a great deal of growth either. “I don’t think we’re getting more tourists and that is cause for concern,” Mr Moir said. This seems to be supported by the Department of Tourism’s figures for visitors to the Island arriving by air. In 2006 the DoT reported an increase of over 59 percent in air travel to Cayman compared with the previous year. So far in 2007, the year-to-date figure for air travel has shown only an 8.3 percent increase. While factors such as rent, staffing and advertising mean the overheads involved in running an eating establishment are high, while the amount of competition on the Island means that prices need to be kept low. For any new business, getting started is often hard, but in Cayman’s current restaurant industry it seems to be more so than ever. “It’s a tremendous risk,” said Dr McField. So what do U think?