Jamborees; the fast food experience elevated to a higher standard

The opening and closing of restaurants are not usually covered within the newscast but we believe this new initiative deserves mention.   Located just behind Belize Elementary School, Jamborees opened on Saturday to a long line and great fan fare. Today News Five went to see what all the fuss was about.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting

Jamborees is a new restaurant built on three quarters of an acre behind Heritage Bank and Belize Elementary School.  The brightly colored restaurant, which includes all amenities that are normally lacking in the local fast food experience, is the ideal family setting that started as a dream of Julian Murillo.

Julian Murillo, Proprietor, Jamborees

julian murillo

“This is almost a ten year old dream. I’ve always wanted to do something like this in Belize. Having lived outside the Belize for a number of years, it was always my dream to come back home and invest in the country and really set the tone in terms of bringing international standards and quality in particular in this particular sector of the economy, which I think is one that is quite needed in Belize.”

Jose Sanchez

“Location wise, it seems like the right place to be. What made you decide this is the spot?”

Julian Murillo

“I think you said it, we are sitting in the middle of what we feel is a burgeoning business district in Belize. We’re close to the hospital, close to all the schools, universities, banks, supermarkets, the bus stop, the entrance to the main northern highway. So we would hope that we can capitalize on the flow of people in this area on a daily basis.”

Everything is state of the art at the facility, even the four menus are served up on Hi-definition flat screen televisions.  The kitchen is also bar none.

chef lex

Chef Lex, Jamborees

“We have three departments in our kitchen. We have a pizza department, which is basically where we do our dough and most of our personal size pizzas. Then you move on down towards the fryer; that’s where we take care of all our chicken. Everything is set up in just a way where we’re able to get the food to the customer as quickly as possible. We have an assembly line system and it’s been working for us and I believe that as Belizeans come and take a look at what we have and also the food that we have to offer, it’s a big compliment and I believe that Belize is ready for something different. So what we’re doing here is cooking up a whole new Belize.”

Jose Sanchez

“In terms of seating capacity, inside and out, how many people can you have here at one given time?”

Julian Murillo

“We feel we have the biggest restaurant in the country. Inside we have about ninety-four and we probably could push it up to a hundred if we squeeze it in tightly and outside we can sit another one hundred and twenty. That does not include the playground, which is the first of its kind, mega three storey playground in the country. And that accommodates over seventy kids at any one time.”

Jose Sanchez

“This is a highly trafficable area. In terms of parking how many vehicles can you have in the lot itself?”

Julian Murillo

“Yes, well as I said we’ve designed the business to meet all international standards and we’re pleased to sat that we have over thirty-two parking spaces currently on the premises and of course the area—because we’re in an area where we have wide streets—does allow for spillover parking so we’re very excited that we can accommodate quite a big crowd in this facility.”

The resident cook, Chef Lex, also agrees that his kitchen is mobilized to handle this busy part of Belize City now referred to as ‘the new downtown. ’

Jose Sanchez

“Will you be able to handle large amounts of students when school actually opens?”

Chef Lex

“Well, that was a question that was asked before and I believe that that’s why we have a very big facility to be able to accommodate the youth, the young men and young ladies from this community; even the working people. So the answer to that is yes and the reason being is that we have a kitchen set up in such a way that it almost runs like an assembly line. Actually it does; it gives us a speedy service. We’re not a fast food joint, we are just a very speedy food place where you can come and get a variety of dishes within minutes. We have from burgers to pizzas and a variety of burgers and pizzas. We have a rotisserie, which is I believe one of our major hits here at jamborees. We have our Papito burger from the burger side. We have nuggets, which is something that the young men and young ladies have been coming out—the parents have been bringing kids and the kids have been wiping us out on the nuggets.”

Penelope Matus, Customer

“Well I came from yesterday morning and I bought the barbeque chicken along with the wings and it was really, really good. Honestly, the chicken nuggets, that was the main for my kids. They love that one. My baby came and he was so fascinated with the slide, he didn’t want to leave when we came last night. But I’m really having a good time. Honestly, the food is really, really good.  I’ll invite anybody who are just thinking and wondering if they should come you should come, the food is great.”

Julian Murillo

“If you look at our pricing level, we are competitive with most or even more competitive than many. The key here is that we are Belizean owned. We’re fully Belizean and we feel that we’re not looking to get rich off one customer. Our business model is based on a volume play so we’ve set pricing at a level that we think any average Belizean can afford and that is one of the keys that we will maintain throughout our business model.”

That business model also appeals to those of us who prefer to buy food from a window. A modern drive-through window service will be operational by Wednesday. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.

Jamborees opens to the public at seven a.m. and closes its doors at ten p.m.  The Murillos hope to turn the business into a franchise.