分类： business

Antigua-based hospitality collection Rocks Group has announced a high-profile leadership appointment that marks a homecoming for one of the Caribbean’s most accomplished culinary talents: native Christopher Terry has stepped into the role of Group Executive Chef, tasked with steering the overall culinary vision and daily operations across all five of the group’s restaurant concepts — Sheer Rocks, Catherine’s Café, Rokuni, Fat Urchin, and Roca.

With nearly two decades of professional experience earned at some of the world’s most exclusive luxury resorts and hospitality destinations across three continents, Terry is returning to his home island after building a decorated international career that took him from regional Caribbean properties to elite dining venues in North America, and most recently, the high-end resort landscape of the Maldives.

Terry’s culinary journey first began on Antigua, where he completed his initial training at the Antigua & Barbuda Hospitality Training Institute before moving to the United States to advance his culinary education at Florida’s prestigious Johnson & Wales University. Over the years that followed, he held senior culinary leadership roles at iconic global properties including The Nautilus Maldives, Amanyara in Turks & Caicos, Hammock Cove Antigua, Sandals Barbados, Florida’s Ocean Reef Club, and Jumby Bay Island. Through every step of his career, he has built a reputation for four core pillars of his work: delivering unforgettable, tailored guest experiences, developing creative, boundary-pushing menus, mentoring emerging culinary talent, and intentionally weaving local, seasonal Caribbean ingredients into refined, world-class dining concepts.

The appointment is a meaningful full-circle moment for both Terry and Rocks Group founder Alex Grimley. The two first worked together decades earlier at Antigua’s Carlisle Bay resort, where Grimley held the role of Head Chef as Terry was just launching his professional culinary career. Their reunion comes at a key inflection point for Rocks Group, which is currently in a period of evolution and expansion of its culinary footprint across Antigua.

“Chris embodies every core value our hospitality group was built on,” shared Rocks Group Chief Operating Officer Carl Habel in a statement announcing the appointment. “He is extraordinarily talented, deeply passionate about his craft, and brings unmatched experience from some of the world’s leading luxury hospitality properties. Most importantly, he is Antiguan. His career path is an incredible example of local talent reaching global success, then choosing to bring that hard-earned expertise back home to support his community.”

Habel added that the group is particularly enthusiastic about Terry’s ability to lift up the next generation of local hospitality workers, alongside his expected contributions to culinary creativity and operational leadership across the group’s venues. For Terry himself, returning to Antigua offers a unique opportunity to give back to the regional hospitality ecosystem that launched his career, and contribute to a group that has long been a trailblazer for Caribbean dining.

In his new role as Group Executive Chef, Terry will lead culinary innovation and development across all Rocks Group restaurant concepts. He will work hand-in-hand with individual restaurant teams to continuously elevate the guest experience, while upholding the group’s commitments to quality, creativity, and sustainable sourcing — with a sharp focus on celebrating Caribbean ingredients and nurturing local culinary talent. The appointment itself underscores Rocks Group’s longstanding dedication to investing in people, growing accessible hospitality careers for local workers, and supporting the ongoing expansion of Antigua’s dynamic, fast-growing culinary sector.

The dual-island Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has entered a new phase of evaluating a transformative billion-dollar (EC) investment proposition that could reshape its tourism and economic landscape. A coalition of cross-border private investors has tabled an ambitious $100 million plan to build a comprehensive horse racing and equine sector, with backers projecting it will establish the country as the preeminent destination for equine sports, breeding and specialized services across the Caribbean region.

Speaking at an official press briefing following Cabinet’s weekly meeting Thursday, Maurice Merchant, the nation’s Director General of Communications, outlined the full scope of the investor-backed master plan. Unlike small-scale standalone racing projects, the proposal outlines a fully connected equine ecosystem engineered to draw high-value international capital, elite racing competitions and niche tourism that fills gaps in the region’s current hospitality offerings.

Per the plan breakdown shared with government officials, the first phase of construction alone carries an estimated price tag of $25 million. When fully built out, the development will encompass much more than a single racing track. Core components include an international-grade racecourse meeting global competitive standards, a specialized thoroughbred breeding facility, a full-service equine veterinary hospital, a purpose-built biosecurity and animal quarantine station, vocational education and training programs for local workers in the equine field, on-site hospitality and leisure amenities for visitors, and all supporting core infrastructure needed to operate the hub.

Given the significant size of the proposed investment and the multi-layered complexity of developing a full cross-sector equine industry from the ground up, the Cabinet has determined that more in-depth due diligence is required before moving forward with any final approval. Merchant confirmed that the investor consortium will be invited back for a sequence of additional follow-up presentations, where they will be required to share granular details on the project’s financial structure, proposed regulatory frameworks to govern the industry, environmental impact assessments, phased implementation timelines, and overall investment breakdown.

Government decision-makers will conduct a thorough review of these technical and operational details before voting on whether to move ahead with the landmark development, Merchant added.

The Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda has taken a major step toward revitalizing its stagnant livestock sector and bolstering long-term food sovereignty, after the national Cabinet formally approved the initial phase of a cutting-edge integrated livestock processing complex slated for construction at the historic Betty’s Hope site. Backed by a total planned investment of roughly 15 million Eastern Caribbean dollars, the government frames the initiative as a cornerstone effort to cut the country’s heavy dependence on imported meat products and reenergize domestic agricultural production.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing held this Thursday, Maurice Merchant, the nation’s Director General of Communications, outlined that the full Cabinet received a detailed project briefing from a cross-functional team of senior stakeholders from the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and the Blue Economy. The group included the permanent secretary of the ministry, the national director of agriculture, the project’s lead consultant, and the on-the-ground project manager, all of whom walked decision-makers through the scope and long-term vision for the development.

The first phase of the multi-stage strategy focuses on constructing a modern, fully compliant abattoir purpose-built for small ruminants and swine, alongside a separate, dedicated processing facility for poultry, all located at the Betty’s Hope site. This initial build lays the foundation for what will eventually become the country’s national Veterinary Livestock Development Complex, a centralized hub that will bring together core national activities spanning livestock production, professional veterinary services, commercial food processing, agricultural research, farmer training, and local agribusiness development.

Project planners highlighted that the availability of government-owned Crown land at Betty’s Hope makes the location uniquely ideal for the integrated complex. Co-locating all veterinary, livestock production, and regulatory services on a single site will not only provide a permanent, purpose-built headquarters for the national Veterinary and Livestock Division, but also streamline cross-agency coordination, cut long-term operational costs, and boost overall service delivery efficiency.

During the presentation, stakeholders acknowledged that Antigua and Barbuda already holds all the core assets needed to build a thriving, competitive livestock sector: the country benefits from favorable climate conditions that support animal rearing, has ample suitable land resources, and already employs the technical expertise required to scale the industry. However, they also noted that the sector has suffered a steady decline over multiple decades, driven by a range of persistent challenges: growing price competition from low-cost imported meat products, shifting national land use patterns that have reduced available grazing space, steadily rising domestic production costs, and growing climate-related shocks that have disrupted small-scale livestock operations.

Beyond simply upgrading outdated slaughtering and processing infrastructure, the full national strategy aims to reverse that decades-long decline through a phased expansion approach that supports domestic livestock producers at every step. Key mid-term objectives include growing the national livestock population through improved selective breeding programs, enhanced access to high-quality animal nutrition, strengthened preventative and clinical veterinary services, and targeted direct support for smallholder and commercial livestock farmers across the country.

Subsequent phases of the overall project will expand the complex to add integrated meat packing and value-added processing facilities, industrial cold storage for finished products, domestic feed production operations, and systems to repurpose livestock by-products for additional commercial use. These downstream expansions are explicitly designed to create new, sustainable jobs in the agricultural sector and keep more economic revenue from livestock production within Antigua and Barbuda’s domestic economy, rather than sending that revenue overseas for imported processing or finished products.

Merchant confirmed that the government has already begun preparing for construction, having proactively acquired key equipment for the new facilities over recent months. Critical core equipment for the main abattoir has already arrived on the islands, clearing the way for the Ministry of Agriculture to break ground on the Betty’s Hope complex immediately following formal Cabinet approval.