Challenged by a limp economy and a wave of competition from internationally-branded fast food franchises, Jad and Ryan Rahaman are busying themselves seeking to restore the fortunes of J.R. Burgers, an establishment that had its origins in a mobile hamburger bar on the Georgetown sea wall and which, today, is represented in a multi- million dollar complex which, even now bears the scars of the trying times which the businessmen are facing.
You don’t have to probe the Rahamans too deeply to determine where the shoe is pinching. The Silhouette, which, for a while, was regarded as one of the more pleasing fine-dining services in the capital is now closed as is The Altitude, a high-rise night club that has been part of the Sandy Babb street complex. The re-opening of the Altitude, Jad says, is awaiting the resolution of “programming challenges” for an elevator that does not now provide transportation for revelers to the topmost floor of the complex, where the Altitude sits. J.R. Burgers alone, amongst the family of services still stands inside the complex.