A Caribbean restaurant has expanded to a second location after seeing a growth in demand.

D&C Grill, which opened its first eatery six years ago on Harrington Sound Road, has added another location in Middle Road, Southampton.

Owners Donald Taylor, a chef by trade, and wife Cassandra Taylor, expressed gratitude for their success and discussed their business’s humble beginnings.

“I first want to give thanks and praise to the Lord,” said Mr Taylor, who worked as a builder prior to launching the restaurant.

During the recession the couple was hit hard leaving them with few options.

“No work was coming in and my wife and I had hit a hard spot financially,” Mr Taylor added.

“We were both unemployed, which caused us concern. We were thinking that we needed to get Financial Assistance to help out.”

One day while sitting on Front Street, he made a decision to go back to his original trade as a chef.

Mrs Taylor said: “We began to seek advice from the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation about setting up a small business.”

After much consideration, they first bought a food wagon, which they stationed at John Smith’s Bay.

They became popular quickly. As the demand grew, they knew they had to find a permanent location.

The opportunity presented itself at the Harrington Sound premises and they grabbed it.

The couple believe their success is a result of the authenticity of their cooking.

D&C Grill claims to be the first Caribbean restaurant in Bermuda that cooks with an authentic jerk grill, the like of which can be found in Jamaican restaurants.

“We believe our restaurants stand out because of the love we put into it, from the food, to the service, authenticity and quality,” he said.

Business received a boost when a young local food blogger came into their restaurant and fell in love with their fish sandwich — and her rave reviews put them on the map.

“Since this young lady came in we have had an increase in our fish sandwich sales and more people started ordering them,” Mr Taylor said.

Success has not been without challenges along the way. The couple admitted that running a restaurant business is hard work.

“The most challenging thing is keeping staff, getting them to stay,” Mrs Taylor said.

Mr Taylor added: “People only see when the door is open, but they don’t see when it’s closed. When we first started we were getting only four hours of sleep each night, because we were so busy.”

On their menu are dishes including famous jerk chicken, pork, fish, rice and peas, maccaroni, salads and much more.

Opening hours are Monday to Thursday, 11am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 10pm, closed on Sunday.

• For more information, call 734-8717