7 News Belize

Dustin Bowen Hits Paydirt With Norwegian
posted (April 8, 2016)
One Belizean businessman who's preparing for major success at Harvest Caye is Dustin Bowen.

He's the owner of Riverside Tavern, the popular restaurant and bar in Belize City, but now he's been contracted as NCL's local partner to provide all the food and beverage for the entire island facility of Harvest Caye.

That's an impressive 4 new restaurants and 9 bars that's under his portfolio. And, with the projected cruise passenger traffic that should dock at Harvest Caye, Bowen could well be on the way to creating a business empire comparable to his stepfather, Sir Barry Bowen. We spoke with him yesterday on the scope of planned operation in the southern cruise port:

Dustin Bowen, Provisions Belize
"We have 4 main food venues, 4 main food and beverage restaurants and then we have 9 bars total. The largest being the Margaritaville Brand which is LandShark Bar & Grill that will host more than 400 guests in pool side and patio dining whereby we have a menu that is specifically tailored not only to the franchise brand but also has a menu with a Belizean twist. In the drinks and the recipes of the dishes that we're going to be serving for lunch are. Let's start from the village area in the back where the tours will be coming in, one of the main venues there is called the Manatee bar and grill. The reason we named it the Manatee Bar and Grill is because a lot of Manatees are spotted in that area so they can view them while their there. Moving down to the beach area, we have the Laughing Bird bar and grill, which laughing bird connotes the Laughing Bird Caye that exists here in Belize, so we named it after that. That lends itself to all the beach goers again with a Belizean twist on the menu and cocktails. The 4th being the Villa Bar which is called the Horse Side Jack. The Horse Side Jack, everybody's familiar with fishing around Belize and we always catch horse side jack so we named it that. Again menu beverages all indigenous ingredients from Belize and catering to the cruise ship passengers so they can really get the feel of what we're doing here in Belize."

Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, I know that you're on the Riverside Tavern which is a very successful franchise in Belize City. Would you say that Provisions Belize, your company is making a great expansion?"

Dustin Bowen, Provisions Belize
"Yes that's exactly right, I mean, that was the first major foothold after coming back from Culinary and Hospitality school that I got into with my father back in 2006. The Tavern was a stepping stone for us, for myself, and now creating and coming into Provisions Belize, a much larger company that encompasses more than just one restaurant, 4 major venues and 9 bars, that's a huge undertaking for what we're doing in this business."

Of course, as soon as NCL allows to us to tour Harvest Caye, that's when we'll show you how the facility looks.

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