BK cares

Burger King is taking the health of its customers seriously.

General Manager of Restaurants Associates (Barbados) Limited, Ryan Walters gave this assurance to Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, the Honourable Indar Weir, yesterday.

Walters, who was at the time speaking at the official opening of Burger King’s Holetown restaurant located at Rubis Service Station, Holetown, St. James referred to the fast-food chain’s Nutrition Facts & Calorie Information which is available to all customers in store as well as online. The chart has been ensuring that customers are able to make an informed decision about whether a particular menu choice fits within their calorie needs.

He said, “I want to assure the Minister and the Government that we have the best interest of our customers at heart. Four years ago we took it upon ourselves to ensure that each customer that comes through our doors, has information on calorie intake on every item we have
on offer. We have them posted in each store, as well as on our website for our customers to view and it provides them with a level of information, so that they can control their intake of the food at Burger King.”

In addition, Walters said that Burger King’s “Have It Your Way” option allows the customer to get most of what they want, how they want it, further explaining “most of our menu items are “built to order” so there is not much food there waiting for customers to come in. When the customer places the order, is when we prepare their meal – that gives us the ability to work with the customer on the exact meal they want. If they want less mayo, more lettuce, more tomatoes – we have the ability to be flexible to meet the customer’s demands.”

Director of Burger king, Everick Eastmond said that their operations in Barbados have been a significant contributor to this country by way of employment and opportunities for local suppliers of goods and services.

“Today, we can boast that approximately 60 per cent of our input of goods and services or just over $3 million annually is supplied by indigenous suppliers. Our chicken on the bone comes from Chickmont Foods; oil from Roberts Manufacturing; cleaning products from Ecolab; bread from Purity and many more. Our capital injection in our operating plant of approximately $8 million has provided opportunities for local businesses to supply and or maintain our operating plan and technologies,” he said.

Chairman of Restaurants Associates (Barbados) Limited, Ralph “Bizzy” Williams pledged to continue to work with local farmers, saying “as far as I am concerned I would like every single thing that Burger King sells in Barbados to be produced locally.”

However, he admitted that there has been a stumbling block in doing so.

“We have been trying since we started, to persuade the local chicken processors to produce the chicken patties that we need and they have refused to do so all along. We just have specifications that we have to meet to Burger King standards and we cannot back off those specifications,” Williams claimed.

“So, I hope that people won’t start saying that ‘Bizzy want to haul all’, when they force us to set up our own processing plant. Because unfortunately when we get into something new, I hear the talk ‘he want all’, which couldn’t be further than the truth,” Williams stressed. (TL)