Grace Road Group has opened Olive Tree Mexican Cuisine at the newly built Challenge Plaza in Laqere, Nasinu, the company confirmed, with the restaurant officially launching on November 20, 2023. The new outlet, which the group says will offer Mexican dishes at affordable prices, cost approximately FJ$800,000 to establish and initially employs about 30 staff, with further recruitment planned as business ramps up.
Operating manager Grace Park described Olive Tree as part of the company’s wider construction and retail plan that links its supermarkets with family-friendly dining options. “This is one of our very spacious restaurants,” Park said, adding that the concept is intended to give shoppers the option to eat with family and friends after visiting Grace Road supermarkets in the plaza. Park also noted early customer support since the restaurant’s opening.
A central pillar of Olive Tree’s offering is a focus on healthy ingredients sourced from Grace Road’s own farm. Park said staples for the restaurant such as cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkin and coriander are produced on-site at the Grace Road farm to ensure hygiene and quality. “Grace Road always promotes a healthy life and that is why most of our ingredients and food products… are from our own Grace Road farm which is healthy and hygienic,” she said.
Park also highlighted the group’s commitment to local suppliers, saying the restaurant and wider business buy fruit and staple root crops from nearby growers. Items listed as sourced from local farmers include guava, pineapple, pawpaw, cassava and dalo, a move Park framed as supporting rural producers and strengthening local supply chains.
The Olive Tree opening is being presented as the latest step in Grace Road’s strategy to expand beyond central urban areas. Park said the business has “always been about developments outside the town and city areas,” and confirmed plans to grow the Olive Tree concept into Fiji’s Northern Division in coming months, though no timeline was provided.
Located in Challenge Plaza, the new restaurant integrates into a mixed retail environment managed by Grace Road Group, which operates supermarkets and other services in the complex. Management says the addition aims to create a one-stop shopping and dining destination for Nasinu residents while creating local jobs and new market outlets for farmers supplying produce.
With the launch now complete, Olive Tree Mexican Cuisine will be watched as an indicator of how niche dining concepts supplied by vertically integrated farms and smallholder producers can perform in suburban Fiji. Grace Road’s statements point to further rollouts, continued hiring and an emphasis on affordability and locally sourced, hygienic ingredients as the business seeks to expand.
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