Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Wisynco's William Mahfood says he hopes to grow his fast- food operation to about 15 per cent of group business. - File

The Mahfoods' Wisynco Group Limited has bought out local Wendy's franchise operator, Wendico Jamaica, from Paul Issa, who introduced the brand locally in 1999.

Wendy's is a miniature operation on Jamaica's fast food landscape with only two outlets in Kingston, but William Mahfood, Wisynco's chief executive, said the acquisition was in line with his plan to leverage growth from the restaurant side of his operation.

Mahfood sees it as a natural fit, saying, "We import, produce and manufacture the same kind of things used in these restaurants."

That segment of the business is six months old, and was launched, with Wisynco taking full control of the Domino's Pizza franchise after the manufacturing and distribution company bought out three other partners in the venture to acquire Partner Foods.

"I was one of the shareholders but a minority shareholder," said Mahfood. "We see huge opportunities in the development of the restaurant business to integrate ourselves."

Mahfood refused to divulge the acquisition price on either entity, but said he has immediate plans to expand the Wendy's and Domino's chains with targeted investment of $100 million.

"We have immediate plans to open a third one in the Montego Bay airport," he said, adding that the third Wendy's outlet should be on stream in about three months.

"Paul has done a great job in building the brand Wendy's in Jamaica in keeping with the vision of the parent company, and we are very exited about the opportunities to further develop this excellent concept across the island," said Mahfood.

Wendy's, an American franchise owned by Wendy's International Incorporated, has more than 6,300 Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers restaurants in North America, and more than 300 international Wendy's restaurant.

Its local market share, Mahfood said, on a 'guesstimate', is about five per cent, while Domino's is equally small.

But Mahfood says he hopes to grow the restaurant segment to about 15 per cent of Wisynco's operation, saying that lifestyle changes that see more Jamaicans opting more for convenience meals present opportunities for building market share.

Plans include doubling the Domino's outlets from five to 10 within six months.

Wisynco's first real foray into the food industry happened two years when it set up its first Häagen-Dazs ice-cream franchise store in Kingston Wisynco has snatched up some prominent deals on the distribution side of its business, including exclusive distributorship of the entire range of Kellogg's cereals in Jamaica, about 55 per cent of its business remains in manufacturing.

Wisynco will inherit 75 employees from Wendico, bringing its complement to about 1,700 across the group.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com