Wise ventures into restaurant business
THE Chicken and Ice Cream Shack located in Navua is the perfect spot for drivers to take a break while commuting on the Queen’s highway.
Owner Shirley Wise said they offered a wide range of snacks, food and beverages for travellers, whether it was for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
“We have about six staff members, five from Navua and one from Suva,” she said.
“I come all the way from Cunningham, Suva.”
Ms Wise added prior to opening the restaurant, she used to run her stall at events such as Showcase and Hibiscus Festival.
“We usually do Showcase and Hibiscus, we started in 2008.
“We always wanted a shop like this on the way so we were lucky to get this spot because they don’t have something like this in Navua, and it’s something different to offer to the people of Navua.”
She said for two years they were not able to participate or run their food business as the pandemic had halted the Showcase and Hibiscus Festival events.
Ms Wise usually ran the stalls, however, given that her husband had a stable job their household income was not affected as much.
The construction took two months to complete as the business was fully operational on Monday, December 13, 2021.
Ms Wise said business had been good so far and they had managed to get busy on certain days.
“Most of the customers coming into the Chicken and Ice Cream Shack were travellers along the Queen’s highway.
“These were people who were either on their way to the Central Division or headed towards the West.”
Ms Wise said they would either stop by for coffee or food, so business so far has been good for them.
Her busiest days are from Wednesdays to Sundays, which see a lot of people travelling along the stretch.
Ms Wise said they had invested close to $100,000 as they had to buy all the equipment, get the inside furnishing complete which was quite costly.
She added, they were planning to open for 24 hours and offer food and beverages to those who were commuting late into the night or early in the morning.
However, she said those plans were still on hold as the country still had a curfew period.
Ms Wise said travellers weren’t the only ones taking advantage of the shack, as most of the locals in the area also stopped by for lunch and dinner.
She said their most popular dish was the Big Chook Burger combo, which came with a twopiece crumbed chicken, Asian slaw, cheese, fries and drinks.
“And we have the wraps and the three-piece Smokey BBQ skewers.”
Ms Wise said the chefs they hired had previously worked in hotels before and had lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
She also said if everything went well in terms of the businesses, they might open a shop in another location.
The shack opens at 8am and closes at 9pm.