By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE pictures of savory dishes and idyllic seaside views are still displayed on the Facebook page of The Bae, tokens of what once existed in west Abaco, but will exist no more.

The restaurant’s owner, Brad Fox, says the Marsh Harbour eatery that scored rave reviews online won’t rebuild after Hurricane Dorian ripped through its wooden walls and took everything.

According to Ken Hutton, president of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce, The Bae is not alone.

“There are a lot of businesses who have decided they are not going to return, that they’ve had enough, that they can’t return,” Mr Hutton said during a recent meeting at the Hilton hotel to discuss the way forward for the island.

Many expect Abaco to rebound after Hurricane Dorian, just like it did in previous eras when battered by destructive storms. But Dorian is already leaving permanent marks on the composition of the island’s business community.

Some fear that as the island rebuilds, ownership will be even more concentrated in the hands of a few.

“I think we’ll see the high earners, the high network people rebuild and return but I think what we will have is some displaced workers that can’t see past the financial burden it will take to rebuild their own situation,” said Mr Fox, The Bae’s owner. “Right now it’s a lot of smoke and clouds, no one can really see how the actual support and billions of dollars that will come in is going to affect their bottom line, their pocket, their bank book, their family, so I think we’ll definitely lose some locals to circumstance and relocation and just the comfort of other islands.”

Last week Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the establishment of a $10 million-dollar loan guarantee and equity financing programme that would allow small and medium sized enterprises in areas affected by Hurricane Dorian to potentially secure up to $500,000 to rebuild.

Mr Fox, however, has already left Abaco and restarted his life in Harbour Island. With him are his family of four adults and four children: his mother, brother, sister, brother’s fiancée and two daughters and his sister’s two sons.

“There was a moment that stuck with me after the storm when I literally had to discard my keys, my house keys, my car keys, keys for the kitchen, for everything,” he said. “It was sort of ceremonial in that I looked at this thing that I’ve been carrying on for however long, it never left my belt loop and I heard them jiggling, I looked at them and I was like, I have no use for any of this anymore because there is not a door handle to put a key in. We lost everything, there’s literally no trace of a restaurant having been at that location.

“I was successful in relocating the entire family to Harbour Island where we’ve taken safe haven. The short-term plan is to find everybody some sort of relief work and people on Harbour Island have been very accommodating with this. My brother is already working. We are looking to secure a location in Harbour Island, one short-term, in preparation for the upcoming homecoming and regatta, so that could be anything from a concession stall at the regatta site to a small food truck or concession outlet. Long-term, we’re looking to secure a location so we could reopen and rebrand as The Bae in Harbour Island.”

The Bae started in 2015 as a kitchen on crown land that sold three items: conch fritters, fried fish and banana pancakes.

“By 2019 we were doing fairly good business,” Mr Fox said. “We did enough where at some point in the first quarter we could shuttle people out of Treasure Cay on a Wednesday night, pack an entire school bus and offer them dinner specials, happy hour specials and sunset views. The business from where we started to where we were up until Dorian was robust. I was making enough to pay the bills in July and August, so we knew once we got through those months, with investments to set us off properly the fourth quarter we were going to do some great numbers.

“We were in the process of rebranding and re-strategising for the entire restaurant. We had gone through new menu items, a new pricing strategy and new marketing schemes. I was actually on my way to the United States to catch a Labour Day sale the day after the storm to try secure some more equipment for us to put this strategy in place.”

The Bae’s clientele included some 40 percent locals and 60 percent second home owners and transient guests, Mr Fox said. The restaurant, he believes, filled a void on an island that “lacked a scene.”

“The price was good and the ambiance and service were exceptional,” he said. “I always told myself I wasn’t going home to work for anybody and that place provided for me an opportunity to live out my dream, which was to own a restaurant and entertain people and show them what was so special about my home.”