BOTAK Jones owner Bernie Utchenik was placing advertisements for his stall in The Finder, a magazine for expatriates here, a year before he opened his burger stall. It ran in 2002 with just the name 'Botak Jones' and the logo of a botak, or bald, man.

'I wanted people to start wondering what this Botak Jones was about,' says the 55-year-old American of Ukrainian descent, who came to Singapore in 1993 as an engineer with an oil service company.

No one's scratching his head over what the name means now.

Four years after the first Botak Jones opened in an industrial park canteen in Tuas, the business has grown to include five other outlets in heartland coffee shops and foodcourts located in Ang Mo Kio, Clementi, Toa Payoh, Depot Road and Woodlands.

The self-taught chef, who makes almost 90 per cent of what he sells from scratch, including the dressings and sauces, is adamant about selling authentic American food, both in flavour and portion.

'I don't want my customers who eventually visit the US and try the food there to say, 'Aiyah, Botak Jones' food is not like it is here'.'

He also opened Brewski Jones, a standalone pub stall in the same foodcourt as his Toa Payoh outlet earlier this year.

And he has more up his sleeves: Look out for Spaghetti Jones opening next to his Depot Road outlet this week. It will be serving American-style pastas such as Cajun chicken spaghetti.

A seventh Botak Jones outlet will open in Bedok in December and, yes, there's even going to be a Sawadee Jones selling Thai food, Mr Utchenik's favourite cuisine, some time in the future.

He also started a catering arm two months ago. It has been catering two events a week on average.

The Singapore permanent resident is no newcomer to the F&B scene. He was a partner of the popular Bernie's Restaurant in Changi Garden but left in 1999 to open gastropub Bernie Goes To Town in Boat Quay. Though it drew in the crowds, high overheads forced him to close it in 2000.

He was depressed for a brief spell but after attending a seminar by motivational guru Anthony Robbins in 2001, where he walked on hot coals, the plucky man was back on his feet.

He is married without kids and met wife Faudziah Utchenik, 45, some 10 years ago when she was working near Bernie's. She is the director of Great Big Food, the parent company of Botak Jones.

With the expansion of the Botak chain, maintaining the consistency of his food is crucial, so staff at each outlet do a daily taste test of the food they receive from a 5,000 sq ft central kitchen in Defu Lane.

And the next thing he wants people to be puzzling over is 'David Roe'. 'All I'll say is that it refers to a person and it has to do with my food business.'