First Stop Fast Food

Opportunities await you!

BY KEISHA MILLIGAN

Melanie Anthony had always loved cooking, but only did it at home for her family’s pleasure. Sometimes she would be disappointed when she would send for a plate of food at a restaurant and it wouldn’t taste right. She knew for a fact that she could do much better. In fact she was ready to prove it, but she needed a location.

One day while discussing with a friend she learnt that the entrepeneur was giving up the keys she had for the fast food shop, located just before Calvary Baptist Church where the buses usually stop by the taxi stand. That was a prime location. This was it. The opportunity for her to do her own thing – prove that she could cook and present food in a much better fashion than some restaurants and other fast food shops. She grasped it, deciding to keep the name as it was.

This month marks her fourth month in the business and she loves it, just like she knew she would. Like many businesses, it comes with the good and bad. Some days the sale are very good while at other times she barely makes enough to cover the day’s costs, but she is certain that she will make it.

There is a small sign at the shop that reads, “Credit will be available tomorrow”. Some days she would come out to work and tell herself that she would not give away anything that day, but she just can’t stick to that promise. Even though she has her own business, she is not rich. Not even near to rich, but she tries to make much of what she has. So even though she convinces herself of what she will do daily it never happens, because she has a weak heart. She loves people and cannot see them go hungry. In the same way she was blessed to get a prime location, she feels that God will bless her for what she is doing.

As I enjoyed the aroma of fry fish, Melanie told me her regular menu. She is open at 6:00 every morning except for Sundays, so she has breakfast available. The breakfast, which includes cheese, eggs, ham, beans, salami sausage, stew chicken, with fry jacks or tortillas, starts at only $3.00. You can purchase your warm cup of tea, coffee or your fresh natural juice with this healthy breakfast.

Her lunch menu consists of any Belizean dish you can think of – fish, chicken, beef, pork, pigtail or even deer meat, which you can get fried, stewed, sautéed or steamed. You name it and you can get it – cooked through nicely.

Her food sells for $6.00, but as I mentioned earlier, Melanie loves her customers and can understand if you don’t have the $6.00. You might still be able to get a plate of food for the cash you have on hand.

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