Duo plan for third outlet
AMITH Kumar and his wife Ranjana Mani have decided to take their Island Vibes brand up North.
After opening their second outlet worth $50,000 at the MHCC food court on Saturday, the couple has started planning the opening of their third establishment in Labasa.
Mr Kumar, 42, said the idea to open up a restaurant came about when his wife wanted a small fastfood shop.
“Instead of opening a small restaurant like how my wife wanted, the God that we are serving blessed us abundantly and that’s how we were able to open our first restaurant called Island Vibes Food and Coffee House which is located along Waimanu Rd,” he said.
“We actually invested a lot more into our first restaurant which we opened in July 2022, because we had to do some serious renovations and that came up to around $250,000 – we are so thankful though because through our God we managed to open our first and now our second and we can’t wait to open our third.”
Apart from the recently opened restaurants, the couple first started their business career by opening their first shop in 2016 called Aaron Aric Marketing Pte Ltd.
“We named our first business after our two sons Aaron and Aric which we saw fitting and this business is actually one of our famous ones.
“We have a total of five businesses apart from the two restaurants – Force Tactical Gears and Equipment Supplies, Aaron Aric Marketing Pte Ltd, Super Cool Varieties, Gear Stop Shop and Eco-friendly Hygiene and Fumigation.
“We supply to the Fiji Army for peacekeeping and the Government as well – we sell safety products such as tactical gloves, waterproof shorts, tactical pants, sublimated t-shirts, fleece jackets, safety boots and desert boots.”
Their shops are located in Toorak, Greig St and opposite MHCC.
“Our aim has been to simply provide employment opportunities for the people of Fiji. In our restaurant at Waimanu Rd we have a total of 30 staff members, our newly opened restaurant we have five to six staff members and if we count our other businesses as well we have about 60 employees.
“Our businesses have been rocking up the sky and that is what we’ve been proud of.”
Mr Kumar said in terms of competition at the MHCC food court, he was hopeful that his new Island Vibes outlet would succeed.
“Our new outlet will have Thai cuisine on the menu, and I don’t think any other outlets here have that. We are honoured to have our chef all the way from the Philippines. He is a pro at what he does and he has worked in many countries.
“We are just crossing our fingers that customers enjoy the food and that they will come back for more.”
The couple resides in Nadera, Nasinu with their two sons Aric Kumar, 15, and Aaron Kumar, 11.