‘Bunchie’ & wife open unique food business on Anegada
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Today, he is still an entrepreneur bringing a new twist to Asian cuisine on Anegada, and VINO caught up with him on Thursday, December 11, 2025.
Together with his wife, Nia M. Douglas-Wheatley, Lawrence started Vivimara.
“We do cocktail drinks…we also do like coffee-based drinks like lattes, matcha, and milkshakes.” Lawrence also cans his own drinks; the branding, he said, has also been a hit with customers.
“I know the specific types of cans that I have; I believe I'm the only person in the BVI that does this specific thing.”
With his own canning method, he cans all his drinks.
As it relates to food, they offer sushi rolls, bao buns, dumplings, sashimi nigiri and onigiri.
From Tortola to Anegada
The Wheatleys lived in Tortola for a while before deciding to move back to Anegada after realising they wanted to have a “softer life”.
“Tortola is becoming quite busy and congested and stuff, and we have two kids, and we just felt like Anegada, being smaller and less populated, would be better to raise the family.”
Coming from a family of restaurateurs and hoteliers, Lawrence said he always wanted to follow the family business model and open his own restaurant.
Lawrence also revealed that upon moving back home, he was promised a space to open the restaurant by a family member; however, just weeks before receiving the keys, they decided to allow someone else to use the space.
“So that was a huge delay for us because we were looking to open at the beginning of this year.”
While he said it was “discouraging”, Lawrence said he and Nia remained optimistic and decided to “figure out another way”.
They wanted it, so they made it
Lawrence said his family loves sushi, and he and his wife love coffee; however, moving back to Anegada meant these were things they did not have access to at the restaurants already there.
“I used to go to get coffee pretty much almost every morning, and I couldn't do it when we moved back to Anegada. So a lot of the ideas also came behind just solving some of our own problems, our own needs.”
He said there was a desire to also provide something different to Anegada, as most, if not all, of the restaurants have similar menus.
“So I wanted to do something that was a hundred per cent different from what everybody else was doing.”
So for two years, the Wheatleys did the work, they trained and learned how to make sushi the right way, got the proper licensing and saved up enough money to buy the necessary equipment.
2025 Lobster Fest launch
Vivimara opened for business during the recently held Lobster Fest on Anegada.
“We’ve been open ever since…it’s been great so far. Loster Fest weekend, we sold out of everything…the sushi, the food, the drinks, everything, we sold out.”
The Wheatleys currently operate their business from home, offering free delivery to schools and $3 everywhere else on the island. Students, Lawrence said, are some of their biggest customers, as they make multiple orders a day. Vivimara is the only restaurant on Anegada offering online orders.
“I think they appreciate being able to get things like milkshakes and the fraps because there's no proper cafe on the island either.”
The husband-wife duo is looking to launch some limited Christmas flavours soon.
“We want to do like a gingerbread frap and a gingerbread milkshake, and we also have a sorrel cocktail that I'm trying to perfect.”
Lawrence took the opportunity to thank people who he said have been helpful on this journey.
He thanked the owners of The Sushi Bar for their “mentorship and guidance”.
He also thanked Trade Winds Mexican Bar and Grill, which provides them with the real tamarind and gooseberries for their margaritas and mojitos.
He credits Robert Swain Jr. from On the Rox for co-creating Vivimara’s signature cocktail, ‘Island Hub’.
The future
According to Lawrence, Vivimara is a partnership between himself and his wife, Nia.
“For right now, I'm doing everything myself, me and my wife. She handles like the marketing and stuff like that, while I do the sushi myself, and I can the drinks and all that stuff.”
Nia, he said, created the company’s logo, does most of the graphic works and oversees about 90 per cent of their social media accounts.
Lawrence and Nia hope to open a physical location for Vivimara soon and once the space is organised, hire staff, contributing to employment on Anegada.
Asked what advice he has for others, Lawrence said, “Deal with one problem at a time as they come, don’t force everything and deal with everything one time because you can stress yourself out and discourage yourself as well. Just deal with one problem at a time.”
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23 Responses to “‘Bunchie’ & wife open unique food business on Anegada”
if you look around most youths these days only caught up in the nightlife, drugs,rum, jueve, dressing half naked, dressing like thugs, showing off who dress better, fighting over man and woman, cheating, lying, partying, endangering themselves on the roads by driving reckless and care free, being caught up in crime and fast life.
The funny thing is they love crime and get into but when the law hit them and they realize they can't travel freely out the bvi then they understand but its too late
too many young girls in school and women dressing scandalous and ending up as single mothers cuz "she luv gunman" "she luv badman" she luv criminals basically or dudes with no morals or standards. kinda reflecting who they really are based on their choices.
too many young girls and women deep into the party life, club life, fast boat life, jueve life shaking them backside and showing the whole body to people who are not their husbands all over them social media the dress like prostitutes' their social post filled with them showing their backside, drinking shots of rum and clearly not in a serious relationship that can last 3yrs +...................
bunchie and his wife set a really good standard an example
we got too many baby showers with no rings then few years to months down the road them break up and she a single mom and he a dead beat dad cuz that wa she pick up and expected to be faithful and committed to working things out
fellas do you expect to go into jueve or a nightclub or parties etc and pull a woman from those areas to tie down and marry her expecting her to be faithful and change her party life and come serious in the relationship for years to come? lol try it and you will fail every time... its like taking a well known thief and asking them to work at the bank vault...all the money gone...
ladies do you expect to pick up a man who partying, at night clubs, and jueve, drinking on reg, smokingg, dressing like thus and have multiple female "friends" and expect him to faithful to you and commit to you and become serious in a relationship for years to come? lol good luckkk. if he pick you up from those scandalous setting chances are he not sticking to you alone. you not the only flower in the garden. the night life and party life got plenty more so hes can walk out any time cuz that where he came from.
all the woman and young girls who had baby shower recently just give it some time after a few years pass ask them where the baby daddy....tbh some girls dont even make it to the baby shower stage with the baby daddy lol.
ladies and gents please pick more serious partners with standards just bcuz the girl look hot dont mean shes worth the trouble 9x out 10 she ran thru by the criminals. if you and your man going to settings where other women have them whole backside and tits out what do you expect your man to do? be faithful? you found him in that setting where his eyes was jumping from one bumpa to the next and you expect him to be faithful and commit to only you? lol the devil is liarrr
men same for you....you see she in those settings looking good with she body but guess who seeing it too? every
other male out there. does she look like the type to become serious in a relationship when she not even serious with
her own standards? you expect her to commit? you expect her to change her way when yall got bills and and child to take care of?? then you going see their true colors... for both genders this goes for..
that same you girl you sayin professional and pretty in office attire ...check she socials and how she looks and behave
and show her standards in the party setting and nightlife... they always sell out on them self especially from how they
dress ... dont mind the face or body if you know them body history and see who all the men hugging she up and
smarting touching during those hugs..... that are not her partners............... you would puke and wouldnt even touch her with a stick. becarefullllll with them
ladies just bcuz the boi look like thug and popular live dangerously doont mean he's gonna change and become and responsible loving faithful love man just for you ladiesss and giving him a baby not gonna keep him to you ladiesss. the funniest thing is when you see young women posting they wanna get married or they want a long term partner but you check her past partners and its always badboyz, drugman, party man, gun man, criminals, unemployed men, men with mutiple female friends, men who follows and likes half naked women on socials, low standards men etc i does laugh and the same women would be at party settings...you expect to find long term partner at party settings that involved other half naked women, rum, weed, reckless behavior etc lol good luck even if yall hook up most times that ain lasting 5+ years notttt thatttt
Have self respect, morals and standards for yourself then look for those qualities in your partner.....that easy.
communicate, be adults, find solutions. relationships ain always lovey dovey there's gonna be fights and hard times you have to pick a partner who understands this and is will to work through it all dont just get up and get a baby and yall not even living together to see each other faults, yall not even in a relations for at least 3 to 4+ years to see how yall play out in the long run..... come on people. some people love to wear mask but they can only keep it on for so long. test them . lets time test time as well they can't hide their stink ways for long. test them before making any major commitment like kids or marriage
The drinks are off the chin a nice buzz before s..
Wish him all the success