Home Restaurant Closes

Details

Restaurants

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 06:55

By Floree Williams

All good things must come to an end is the sad but true statement about Home Restaurant. After 18 years of proudly serving Antiguans and the tourists who grace our shores, Carl and Rita Thomas have called it a day.

Carl always had a passion for cooking. At 17, he began training in the culinary arts, starting out at the Mayflower Hotel in New York. In 1992, he decided to return to Antigua and open his own business. He saw the need for a Caribbean-themed restaurant at a time when there were few such establishments.

He didn’t like the fact that tourists would visit Antigua and eat food from other cultures. So the Home Restaurant opened its doors in 1992 in Carl’s boyhood home in Gambles.

The house, built in 1955, had always stayed in his family and was at one point rented out to educators who worked at surrounding schools. The main idea behind the restaurant was to always let the diner feel at home. With its cozy surroundings and 1950’s/60’s décor, the restaurant and its owners saw many locals and high profile tourists filter through.

Carl reflected on the changes in the industry over the years. He reminisced how the types of tourists have changed, shifting from continental Europeans to mainly tourists from the UK.

Changes in the economic climate and cost of living are battles he has had to fight. Interestingly, he cites a lack of locally grown produce, which directly affects the cost of running a business. Carl believes that more local produce would carry down the importation costs for restaurants.

• < Prev
• Next >