Entrepreneur’s northern treat for locals and tourists

by Marlon Madden

He had a dream of owning a boat one day – not to sail around on the ocean, but to operate as a cook shop on land. Coupled with his love for themed places and a desire to do something he really enjoyed, 46-year-old Wayne Francois finally turned his dream into reality over a month ago when he opened Caboose – a cook shop that he operates from a retrofitted wooden fishing boat located on a spot of private land opposite a window to the sea in Heywoods, Speightstown, St Peter.

The fact that he operates from a rustic-looking boat is not the only unique feature of the cozy eatery. It is completely self-sustainable, generating its own electricity from solar panels and has its own water supply on board. “I can move and go anywhere,” declared Francois, as he indicated that there were two big tanks with water “in the back”.

“I always loved themed places that are doing one thing and doing it really well,” he said.

“I always had my idea on a small kitchen and about 15 years ago I had the idea, but I wasn’t in the right place in my life at the time. It was one of those things I had to be in the right place to do it right and do it justice,” he said.

The father of one worked in the Ministry of Health for about ten years up to 2006, after which he ventured into the hotel and restaurant industry while having his idea for the business.

In 2015 he moved to Belfast in Northern Ireland where he was motivated to reconsider starting his business after seeing the experience in Europe with a lot of small eateries.

“I think living there gave me the idea to facilitate this dream. I always had an idea of having my own little place and when the fishing boat idea came up, I thought it was a dope idea, but I just wasn’t there yet in my mind. Stuff just wasn’t lining up at the time,” he recalled.

It was while watching a few episodes of the television series George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, that he decided that he must take the step to bring his dream to reality. “So when the pandemic hit, my wife and I were at home – she took the redundancy when they offered it – and we were planning to come back to Barbados in about three years anyhow, so we said we might as well accelerate it and go back now,” he recalled.

“When I was coming back, I thought, ‘you know what, I think I need to bring my boat to life. I have the time to do it,” he reminisced. Describing the journey as one of patience, Francois said he ended up buying the boat in September last year and carried out repairs on it to bring it up to standard by March of this year, and at the beginning of May he opened the business.

“It has been growing rapidly every week. Every week the social media has been going crazy because in this day of social media everybody loves a good photo, and so many people have been coming and taking photos and sharing it. It is unbelievable!” he exclaimed.

While Caboose is opened around 11 a.m. each day, there are some days when people would be lining up waiting before that time, and there are other days when he would not see his first customer until just after midday.

Francois admitted that sometimes he felt overwhelmed by the response, noting that there were also days when there would be “a crazy rush” between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. However, he said the response was his validation that he made the right decision.

“It is really good being validated like this that ‘yeah, you did something good’,” said the chef, as he did some prep work ahead of his usual opening. The flagship item of Caboose is the steak fish cutter. Francois told Today’s BUSINESS he already has plans for the expansion of his business.

“I am going to introduce some flying fish in another couple of weeks. I also want to do some pot fish and I will have boneless jacks,” he said.

“In the end, the boat is something to complement my fish cutters. I started with fish cutters but I am going to eventually branch off to do pickled sea cat on weekends, and then on Sundays I am going to do a roast breadfruit lime with saltfish buljol,” he shared.

Pointing out that weekends were more laidback with some people coming to the location and lounging, Francois said that was where the idea came from to introduce the breadfruit lime.

The St Peter resident, who attended the West Terrace Primary School and the Grantley Adams Memorial Secondary School, said growing up he had no interest in theoretical pursuits.

“I was actually interested in arts. I now have my own website. I do acrylic on canvas paintings, which I sell,” he added.

The entrepreneur admitted that it was not all smooth sailing for him to reach the point he is now, explaining that getting a response from some of the relevant agencies took way too long and some people, while they lauded the idea, did not get back to him on his plan.

Pointing out that there were a lot of people in Barbados who are “hungry” and want to start a business, his simple advice is, “just do it”.“Nothing beats a try than a failure. If you never try you will never know.

If you tried and failed then at least you learned something; you learn the next time when you do it, do not do it like that. And don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it,” he said.

Recalling the weeks when he was repairing the boat and would share his idea with several people, Francois said “when I tell people I was putting it down here (St Peter), everybody was like ‘down there so quiet, why yuh wannah put it down dey?’

But I would say ‘you are missing what I am doing because this is going to be a destination. This doesn’t need anything immediately next to it’. So just do it. Nothing beats a failure,” he said.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb