After working together for two decades, Sintelle Taylor and Godfrey Fitzgerald's relationship is more like sister and brother than business partners. That feeling of family will be part of the customer experience at their new restaurant in Rehoboth Beach called Jerk and Jambalaya.

Every Thanksgiving, the two travel together with friends and family to celebrate, said Taylor. This restaurant will be an extension of that celebration, she said.

“Welcome to the family,” said Taylor, during a recent interview.

Located on the Wilmington Avenue side of First Street Station, across the way from Body Shop, Jerk and Jambalaya is scheduled to open Saturday, May 16.

The restaurant’s menu will feature authentic Jamaican and Southern Creole food, said Taylor. It’s built entirely around their culture and traditions, she said.

Food is a cultural unifier, said Taylor. People learn, grow and love through food, she said.

Taylor trained at the famed culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and London, and has decades in the restaurant and food preparation business. She owned a catering business in Princeton, N.J., and a smokehouse in Los Angeles, Calif.

This will be the first time she gets to live in the same place as one of her businesses, and she’s looking forward to it, she said.

“It’s exciting,” she said.

Fitzgerald, who comes from Jamaica and grew up in a family of service industry providers, has been a hairstylist and salon owner for decades. That’s how he and Taylor met – she was a client. He said he's looking forward to working with Taylor on this new adventure.

“It’s all about taking care of people,” said Fitzgerald.