Juici Patties Comes to America

Juici Patties’s arrival in the American market was greeted with much fanfare. Two days after opening its first franchise in the country, in Hollywood, Florida on Thursday, March 21st, Jamaica’s largest restaurant chain had to close its doors to restock.

Alyssa (left) and Daniel Chin (right) (Caribbean Today Photo)Customers stood in line for hours and several shared their patty experience in videos on social media. The company then issued a statement on its Instagram page that said, “Thank you everyone for your extraordinary support today, and for buying 5 days worth of patties in 1 day! Unfortunately, we will be closed tomorrow (Sunday) while we restock!”

Leading the expansion in the American market is Daniel Chin, Director of Operations for Juici Patties in Jamaica and CEO of the US division of the company. It was his father, Jukie Chin, who at 16 years old started baking patties from his mother’s kitchen in 1978. Now his son and daughter, Alyssa, also a Director and attorney at Juici Patties, have spent years strategizing on the company’s entrée into the US market.

The siblings were at the Hollywood store giving guidance to the workers, and Daniel was sometimes seen in the kitchen stocking patties in the oven.

“I’m very grateful for the support,” said the 31-year-old CEO. “It’s been a long process. It’s taken us six years of planning and making sure that the product taste identical to Jamaica. So it wasn’t a quick decision. It’s been in the works.”

At 25-years-old, Rhea Wright, the owner of the Hollywood restaurant, is the youngest franchise partner in the history of Juici Patties. She wasn’t born in Jamaica but visits almost every month. When Wright would drive pass the Juici Patties restaurant, and headquarter in Clarendon Park, on her way to visit family in Mandeville, she often wondered if there could be a franchise opportunity as she wasn’t sure what she was going to do after college. Years later her curiosity paid off with hundreds of people waiting in line for days.

“I’m truly humbled,” said Wright. “I’m just blessed that everyone came out to support the new franchise and being the youngest it’s really an accomplishment for me. It pushes me to work harder and I hope that other young women look at me to kind of use as a force to push themselves and to grow and to know that anything is possible as long as you keep trying.”

The company has currently signed franchise agreements for 26 restaurants in Florida --19 in South Florida and seven in Orlando -- all of which are expected to be operational by 2028. The next two franchises to open will be in Lauderhill and Sunrise at the end of April.

Restaurant locations are strategically chosen. “We have a list of zip codes in which we allow our franchises to open,” said Chin. “Zip codes that our data suggest are close to our customers.”

Tamian Hall, stood in line for over an hour. Originally from Spanish Town, Hall now lives in Fort Lauderdale, and said she likes the patties because the meat is good and it’s not too flaky. “When you eat it, you don’t mess up yourself.”

The time in line didn’t bother her. “I’m standing in line because it’s that good and I’ll wait. I’m not taking a flight to Jamaica.”

The company enters an area of Florida known for its large Jamaican and Caribbean population. According to the US Census there are 763,631 West Indians (non Hispanic) in Florida. Of those, there are 96,522 Jamaicans in Broward County and 28,577 Jamaicans in Miami-Dade County.

“Florida does have a lot of Jamaicans. But South Florida is becoming a big foodie scene. So we just want to contribute to this booming scene,” said Chin.

“Our data suggests there’s a lot of demand for Jamaican patties from persons from all background in the US even those who don’t have any Jamaican ancestry. Our goal is to sell to everybody. Not just Jamaicans living in Florida.”

Juici Patties will also encounter competition from a variety of restaurants. The franchise in Lauderhill is in a strip mall with five other restaurants offering a variety of cuisines, from: sandwiches, Mexican, Indian, tropical and Japanese foods. And within a mile of that location are four Jamaican restaurants offering Caribbean food. But Chin isn’t intimidated.

“I’m not concerned because as far as I know I believe we are the only patty company in the US that is importing the spices from Jamaica,” he said. “So I don’t believe any patty company has the flavour and the quality that we have here in the US.”

The franchises won’t have a breakfast menu but will concentrate on patties (mild beef, spicy beef, mild curry chicken, spicy curry chicken, avocado) and coco bread.

Each franchise is free to build out the restaurant as they see fit. They determine how many persons to employ, how many seats to install, hire general contractors and engage architects. But Chin says the head office provides “conformity and consistency across the brand” to the franchises when it comes to the design of the establishment and that they must procure the supplies and other ingredients from the company’s list of approved vendors.

In March, Juici Patties also opened its 64th restaurant in Jamaica, located in Montego Bay. They’re also in 10 Caribbean islands and sell the patties in select supermarkets in Canada and the United Kingdom.

As a child, Chin spent his summers working for the company his parents built and is now responsible to spearhead to new locations. But said, “working at the company those times didn’t feel like work.” He says he doesn’t think his parents ever envisioned the reach of the restaurant but knows, “they’re as excited as I am.”