Margaritaville Caribbean needs 400 workers

By Shanieka Smith

Staff Writer

February 11, 2023 – Despite a need for 400 new employees, the Margaritaville Caribbean Group continues to work towards launching the Bob Marley One Love Restaurant at the Sangster International Airport in Jamaica.

The Group comprises three dozen restaurants across Jamaica, Grand Cayman, St Thomas and the Turks and Caicos.

“We are 1,000 people and we need to employ people,” CEO and chairman of the Margaritaville Caribbean Group, Ian Dear said.

Many workers have left for overseas programs creating a kind of “brain drain for the company,” Elleanor Cole-Reivers, general manager for Coral Cliff explained.  Not only is the quantity of staff an issue, but the quality has declined as new prospects lack the needed experience.

“If I want a server, I don’t just want a body. I want somebody who understands how to approach a table to deal with the guests, but even with training, some staff members still operate below the standards required,” said vice-president for operations at the Margaritaville Caribbean Group, Alton Thelwell.

The Group maintained their decision to proceed with the expansion of the Bob Marley One Love Restaurant.  Dear said the negotiations have been in the making for 20 years, however, agreements were signed during the pandemic.

“We’re very bullish that notwithstanding all of the challenges that we see right now, this is another phase, we’re going to get past it and we have to plan for the future,” he added.