Papaye set to introduce traditional dishes on menu
Papaye Fast Foods is set to introduce traditional Ghanaian dishes on its menu as a means of providing healthy food for the consuming public.
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The move, according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Papaye, Mr Devine Kwadwo Asiedu, is also to ensure that Ghanaians can access their local delicacies as well as a number of continental cuisines under one roof. Mr Asiedu made this known at a ceremony to officially open a branch of the food joint in Tema last Tuesday.
The branch, located along the Meridian Drive close to the Golden Jubilee Terminal of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), becomes the first fast food joint within the Tema harbour enclave.
It employs 60 permanent workers and brings to five the number of outlets the company has opened in Accra and Tema in its 25 years of existence. It is also the first Papaye joint to come with a children’s playground.
Local tourism drive
Mr Asiedu said the government had created an enabling environment for tourism and Papaye viewed that as key towards creating employment opportunities for the unemployed people in its operational areas.
“Much as Papaye has become a household name in the food chain in Ghana, we are not relenting on our efforts to promote local tourism and work towards achieving our core goal of maintaining environmental consciousness and being socially responsible,” Mr Asiedu indicated.
Such efforts, he said, had led to the company being adjudged the Best Fast Foods Restaurant and best in the payment of the statutory one per cent tourism levy for two consecutive years.
Social responsibility
The CEO indicated that Papaye was committed to its social responsibility within its operational areas and as such had committed funds over the years to education by instituting reward packages for teachers and some 1,000 pupils from selected schools in the Greater Accra Region.
“Just last week, we undertook a programme in which pupils and teachers from selected public schools were rewarded for academic excellence,” he pointed out.
The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, who was a special guest at the opening ceremony, challenged the media to critique businesses in a positive light as a way of getting them to provide quality services for consumers.
He was of the view that improved services could be elusive to clients, should the media fail to realise that their role exceeded political accountability.
“However, while we strive to encourage quality service delivery, we do so to encourage business growth and not to destroy businesses,” Mr Tetteh counselled the media.
TMA
The Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Isaac Ashai Odamtten, in a speech read on his behalf, welcomed Papaye’s decision to extend its services to the metropolis.
“I am also delighted that the company is considering proposals to open branches in Communities Seven and Nine, a move I see as curbing joblessness among young people in the metropolis,” Mr Odamtten stated.
“But while you pursue an aggressive expansion project as a means to increase your clientele base, you must ensure efficiency in your operations”, he advised.
The MCE also commended the company’s decision to introduce Ghanaian dishes as part of its menu, a move he stressed could create indirect jobs for farmers and producers of local foods in the metropolis.
A representative of the Tema Traditional Council and Shipi of Tema, Nii Amarh Somponu, expressed worry that companies in the metropolis had failed to accord the traditional council the needed courtesies.
He also lamented that the community no longer had farmlands because such lands had been acquired for residential and commercial purposes.
That, he stated, had widened poverty gaps in the indigenous communities, thus leaving many young people wandering around aimlessly.
Nii Somponu, however, expressed the hope that Papaye’s entry into the metropolis could make a difference in the living conditions of young people.
