New Eat-out restaurant now open
The thought of having a $100,000 restaurant was a dream he never believed would come true. Proud owner of Eat Out restaurant in Damodar City, foodcourt, Julius Singh said: “Everyone has a talent and sometimes we need the right person to push our buttons to get out of the comfortable zone.”
The 31-year-old owner of the four-day-old restaurant said he was glad that his wife, Maneesha Singh, had constantly pushed him to open their own restaurant.
Mr Singh said: “After doing our research and getting married, we started saving immediately and that included sacrificing our outings even our honeymoon.
“We started to save because we wanted to do this. We had to cut down on our shopping, eat noodles and rice most of the time,” he says.
In May 2016, they made their first proposal and then submitted it to Damodar and the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF).
Mrs Singh said that it was difficult to get space for their restaurant because most of the malls they sent their proposals to were fully booked.
“We almost lost hope but we waited and did more research.”
They sell breakfast starters, and sandwitches, varieties of regular meals which includes roast chicken, burgers and many more.
Mr Singh worked at the McDonald’s in Suva for 13 years. “When ever I see the staff at McDonald’s serving and interacting with the customers, I used to wish to myself that I would open my own one day,” he said.
Mr Singh joined McDonald’s as a maintenance worker in 2004.
“I would travel from my home in Nausori to go to work at the McDonald’s Suva branch to start my 4am shift,” he said.
Growing up in a poor background, he watched his parents make sacrifices to provide the best for him and his three older siblings.
He told the Fiji Sun yesterday that he would save his money to be able to put himself through college.
After saving enough money, he pursued his Certificate in Food and Beverage in 2008 at the then Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT, now Fiji National University. Juggling his work at McDonald’s and studies was worth the early mornings and late nights, he shared.
After completing his studies, he was promoted to be a cook at MacDonald’s.
A few months later, he was promoted to be a trainer then an assistant chef.
He was surprised when he was then promoted to be the floor manager then the operations manager in 2015. The Singhs are excited about their restaurant and invites everyone to try out their breakfast menu too.