WHEN Bobby Naicker left Fiji some 44 years ago for Canada, the plan was that he would return as a pharmacist, but fate had something else in store for him.
Recently appointed as Fiji’s honorary consul in Canada, Mr Naicker’s other job is as president and chief operating officer of Dencan Restaurants Inc. overseeing operations in all Denny’s restaurants spread over Canada.
He looks after at least 85 Denny’s and Wings restaurants and is in charge of about 2500 employees.
An ex student of Marist Brothers Primary and High Schools, Mr Naicker left as a 19-year-old student to study medicine and eventually become a pharmacist.
‘In those days, parents wanted their children to become either a doctor or a lawyer,’ he recalled.
But after two years of study, he changed his program to business studies after ‘falling in love with the hospitality and restaurant business’.
It was perhaps more the zeal to prove a man, Phil Moon, wrong.
Mr Moon was the owner of a Denny’s restaurant where Mr Naicker and a few of other Fijian buddies had gone for a late night meal while he was still a student.
When they had finished their meal and walked outside, they met cops with Mr Moon accusing them of not paying for their meals.
‘Without any questions, we were handcuffed and put in their vehicles. But the waitress came out and asked what happened and said we had paid for our meals to her and she showed them the money.
‘The police un-handcuffed us, no apologies treating us like common criminals and went off.
‘So, I looked at the general manager at that time, Phil Moon, and said, ‘I’m going to buy this restaurant one day from you’.
‘He laughed and said get out. At that age, I had no money, was living from pay cheque to pay cheque because I was a student with a part-time job, I didn’t have any money, but I was determined to buy this restaurant.
‘I went to business school and got my education in business and I always kept around this restaurant looking for the opportunity to buy it.
‘One day I saw there was a for sale sign and I found out he was going bankrupt. I had no money, but begged and borrowed from parents and friends and whoever.’
Mr Naicker’s determination paid off, getting a deposit for the restaurant and eventually owning his first restaurant.
But his biggest satisfaction was telling Mr Moon who did not remember him or the incident- ‘Now this is my restaurant, let me walk you out, get out of my restaurant.
Mr Naicker has lived in Ba, Suva and Savusavu, but will never forget his early business lessons with his grandmother who he said laid the foundation for him.
‘She used to sell tamarind in little cones and taught me how make the tamarind, how to make the cone and how much tamarind to put in the cone ‘ there will be a lot on top and almost empty at the bottom.
‘I have been frugal ‘ I am successful because I learnt how to do business in Fiji.’
In the days when parents wanted their children to become doctors or lawyers, Mr Naicker dreaded telling his father about his decision to work in the restaurant business.
‘When I told him he asked me- do you want to work in a cafe?. In those days, they did not have the restaurants like Denny’s so he thought I wanted to work in a cafe? like Nanking or Peking.
But he eventually accepted my decision and encouraged me.
Mr Naicker Sr, a Member of the British Empire as well as a former Commissioner of Scouts, joined his son in Vancouver a few years later.
‘Being a MBE, he could have gone to Australia, NZ or England without a visa, but he chose Canada because I was here,’ Mr Naicker said.
And though he held senior positions while he was in Fiji, Mr Naicker Sr worked in a timber mill late nights, which motivated his son to be a better business man since he was not pursuing his father’s chosen profession.
‘He walked in the timber mill until 25 years ago when he retired. He didn’t want to stop working even when he did not need to work. That?s the Fiji style. He worked until he retired. Eventually he got to a good position after three or four years of working in the timber mill, so it was a little easier for me.’
Fiji Blond
A true Fijian at heart, Mr Naicker’s restaurants has a beer Fiji Blond that is now their number one selling beer. The taste is a cross between the Fiji Gold and the Fiji Bitter, but the recipe is only known to him and the manufacturer. Sometime he goes in himself to brew the beer, which is only found in his restaurants.
Now 16 years old, the beer is named after a Fijian woman of Indian descent.
‘We had a friend back in the days who dyed her hair blonde. In those days, we never had women ‘ Fiji Indians ‘ who were blonde so we called her Fiji blonde,’ Mr Naicker said.
The logo of the Fiji Blond beer is of a little blond-haired boy holding a rugby ball.
A monetary portion of every beer sold is used to buy sports equipment for underprivileged youths in villages across the country.
‘There are so much talents in Fiji, but some youths in villages cannot afford to buy things like uniforms or sports equipment,’ Mr Naicker said.
Every year, he comes with one of his aides, Petaia Usakilakeba, to donate items to selected community groups.
He has his Fiji Blond rugby team that prides itself as one of the top sevens rugby teams in British Columbia.
Over the years, Mr Naicker has brought in players on scholarship and work visas.
And he has at least employed about 40 people from Fiji in his restaurants.
He estimates at least 38 of them to have got permanent residency in Canada now.
