Customers bringing dollars, signatures to Caribbean Twist
Posted Jul 28, 2010 05:35:39 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Customers are bringing their appetites and leaving their support at a north-end Halifax restaurant.
Caribbean Twist has a zoning problem which may force its closure in the next month, and media attention on the problem has led to a bump in business.
Customers have been packing into the small restaurant on Gottingen Street near the Hydrostone in droves to get a serving of jerk chicken – and show their support.
“I saw they had a petition here as well, so I plan to sign it and I brought along four other people from work, too,” said one customer in line on Tuesday.
Another man said he doesn’t like the city’s ruling, and decided to vote with his dollars.
“I think it’s terrible,” he said. “They should do everything they can to keep a business like this open. This guy has worked really hard to build it up from nothing and they’re very nice people and it’s very good food.”
Owner Lyndon Hibbert opened Caribbean Twist more than a year ago after acquiring the space from another restaurant owner – but city planners only recently told him he didn’t have an occupancy permit and the building isn’t zoned for a restaurant.
The whole issue has some customers scratching their heads.
“It’s been open for quite a while,” said another man. “If they don’t have permits, why did the city let them operate this long without a permit? I find that a bit of a concern really. Can anybody open a restaurant and run it for a year and then get closed?”
They’ve now given him until the end of August to apply for rezoning.
Hibbert says he’s pretty sure it was public pressure that got him that grace period, and he’s hoping the mounting list of signatures on his petition will help him keep his restaurant open permanently.
“I’ve got (signatures from) people from BC, I’ve got people from Montreal, Toronto and New Brunswick, and of course Nova Scotia,” he said. “It makes me feel supported. It makes me know that people want businesses to succeed, they want business to thrive.”
Hibbert says he’s willing to work with the city to resolve the issue.
