Fire razes food business

Hours after an early morning blaze gutted his enterprise, owner of Reggae Jerk Alton George Lewis is promising to be back up and running in a matter of weeks.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, the entrepreneur said this setback would not stop him from progressing further as a business owner.
“I feel devastated, depressed, mentally anguished, words can’t explain. I came to Barbados with US$43, homeless for three days, hungry for four and I started this business out of nothing. Four and a half years later, I have this shop and two food vans. So losing this shop is like losing a baby as me watch her grow up and everything. You would have to be in my shoes to understand what I am going through right now.”
Recalling what occurred leading up to the night before the fire, Lewis said that he closed the shop as he normally would and left for home.
He said he did not want to speculate about the cause of the fire and whether larceny played a part as it would “spook” him.
“So I just tell myself things happened.”
Reggae Jerk, was one of the many food businesses located at Worthing Square, Christ Church. The business was destroyed in the fire which started around 5:21 a.m.
Eight fire officers arrived at the scene in two tenders – one from the Bridgetown station and the other from the nearby Worthing location. The businessman questioned the time it took the firefighters to respond and put out the blaze.
Crouching Tiger and the Mount Gay Bar were the other two businesses impacted by the blaze. They received minor damage.
The 49-year-old Lewis, a Jamaican, said he should be back in business by early next month. The only hold-up could be the Town and Country Planning Department, he explained.
“By the first week of May I should be back [in operation] . . . Me can’t wait. Everyday me wait, me lose money. How am I going to eat, pay my bills [or] my meeting turn?”
He is appealing to anyone who can assist to do so.
(SZB)