Over the past 28 years, their kitchen has filled the bellies of loyal hordes, Island-born and not.

Wesley Snipes was a regular. Jack Layton came on bike for the jerk pork. Michael Jackson, Serena Williams, and LL Cool J all ordered takeout.

But at the end of the month, The Real Jerk, a Caribbean-food institution since 1984, will close its doors — hopefully temporarily, staff say.

Ed and Lily Pottinger, the husband-and-wife team who own the Real Jerk, were given a month’s notice to vacate after their longtime landlords sold the building to a company called Buckingham Properties in late December.

“The way this came down really put a sour taste in our mouth,” Ed Pottinger said in a phone interview from Jamaica, where he was visiting family when he learned the news.

“It came as a shock,” says Natalie Williams, who has worked at the restaurant for 18 years.

Pottinger said they intend to reopen in a new location and will continue to run a catering service until they find the right spot.

The three storefronts east of The Real Jerk were also purchased by companies run by Bill Mandelbaum, president of Buckingham Properties, according to property records. Mandelbaum was not available for comment on Monday.

On Tuesday, Mandelbaum said in an email that “I recognize that The Real Jerk has been in the area for quite some time and I regret the short notice that was given to them.” But he noted that the restaurant’s owners knew about negotiations for the sale, which had been ongoing for over a year, and added that it was their previous landlord’s responsibility to keep the tenants informed that a deal was imminent.

Mandelbaum said plans for the site had not been finalized.

When Pottinger and his wife opened The Real Jerk 28 years ago, there were far fewer Caribbean restaurants in Toronto, and almost none of them were sit-down dining rooms.

More distressingly, Pottinger said, most Torontonians associated his homeland with drugs, crime, and the occasional sprinter.

“Jamaica is so much more than that,” he said.

“I wanted to represent Jamaica in as positive light as possible, and to spread my culture and food to a public that wasn’t fully aware of jerk yet.”

They first opened near Queen St. E. and Greenwood Ave. but moved to the present location, on the southeast corner of Queen St. E. and Broadview, in 1989. The iconic sunburst mural painted on the restaurant’s west wall was added in 1991 by an Australian woman, a fan of theirs who painted it for the cost of materials alone.

Williams said that the restaurant has received more than 200 emails from customers since news of the imminent closure began to leak out.

“We have customers who come in two, three times a week and order exactly the same thing,” she said on Monday beside a wall hung with dozens of “Best Of” awards.

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Tyrone Eversley said he has been coming every week since the place opened.

“I try other places, but I always end up back here,” he said, sitting at the bar.

Karl Thomson, leaving the restaurant with a group of colleagues, said he was “gutted” to learn the news. “It’s so sad. We’re so sad,” he said.

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