WINNIPEG — An African-themed restaurant is enjoying an upswing in business that the owner attributes to the return of the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets.

“The Jets are good for business,” Robel Arefaine, co-owner of the Winnipeg-based Kokeb Restaurant is quoted as saying by the Winnipeg Free Press.

Arefaine says sales of food and spirits are up at his Winnipeg-based resto, with Injera selling particularly well. The traditional flatbread-like delicacy is served alongside Kokeb’s lamb, chicken and beef stews. Known as a national dish in Ethiopia, injera is made with teff flour (made from native love grass), giving the flatbread a light, spongy texture.

And, while larger, better-known chain restaurants are available to hockey fans, a number of local independent restaurateurs, near the MTS Centre, are also enjoying a boost in sales fuelled by the Jets’ popularity.

For more details on The Winnipeg’s Jets influence on local restaurant business, visit winnipegfreepress.com.