June 5, 2025
Jamaica’s cultural exports have long been dominated by music, but its cuisine is now making a powerful global impact.
Written by Noel Walker
Jamaica’s cultural exports have long been dominated by music, but its cuisine is now making a powerful global impact. Juici Patties, Jamaica’s beloved fast-food chain, has become the first Jamaican chain to successfully expand into the U.S., marking a milestone for Caribbean business. While South Florida’s large Jamaican community made it the logical first U.S. market, the brand’s explosive reception in Brooklyn, this past May, with lines stretching around city blocks, demonstrates its cross-cultural appeal.
“We’ve signed 57 franchise agreements for the U.S. so far, and all should open by late 2027,” revealed Daniel Chin, CEO of Juici Patties USA and Director of Operations for the parent company. This rapid expansion is particularly noteworthy because it’s being achieved without private equity — a rarity for Caribbean businesses scaling internationally.
A Family Legacy Built on Authentic Flavors
The Juici Patties story begins with Daniel’s father and founder, Jukie Chin, who opened the first location in 1980 with just 3 employees, after previously perfecting the star menu item in his mother’s kitchen and selling them in the family’s grocery store when he was just 16 years old. The Jamaican beef patty — a flaky, golden pastry filled with spiced beef, chicken, vegetables, or seafood, traditionally made with island spices — would become synonymous with Jamaican street food and the foundation of what is now a Caribbean institution.
“My dad started the business when he was young, and I joined 12 years ago,” Daniel explained. “The company remains 100% family-owned.”
For Chin, an Asian-Jamaican entrepreneur whose grandparents moved to Jamaica from China in the 1950s, this expansion represents more than business growth — it’s about national pride.
“This is more than just a business. This is an opportunity for a Jamaican company and brand to expand on the global stage and show the world that Jamaica has a lot of potential,” he said. “Being from Jamaica, being in the Caribbean, it gave me that extra motivation to do something that has never been done before.”
But achieving this historic milestone required more than ambition — it demanded a fundamental transformation in how the company operated. Juici’s U.S. expansion was years in the making, with customer service transformation playing a crucial role. “About 8-10 years ago, our customer service was pretty bad,” Chin admitted. “We didn’t have that consistency that I hoped for.” The company completely revamped its approach, focusing on “how we hire, how we recruit, how we train, how we pay. We redid everything from the ground up.”
The results were dramatic. Within two years of implementing those changes, Juici ranked number one for customer service in Jamaica. The secret was treating employees like owners: “If you treat somebody like an owner for long enough, eventually they start acting like an owner.” This philosophy has translated to exceptional results, with 96% of Juici employees recommending the company as a workplace to family and friends.
Building the Foundation for Global Success
This transformation didn’t happen in isolation — it was guided by Daniel Chin’s unique blend of formal education and real-world experience. His educational background at the University of Guelph, where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce specializing in the hospitality industry, provided the essential foundation. “I was studying economics, accounting, food chemistry, and food science. It was a mix of business with a little bit of culinary,” he explains. “The program was niche. It’s hospitality but so strongly business, and it’s perfect for somebody in the restaurant business.”
However, formal education only told part of the story. “What I learned at Guelph was great preparation, but doing business in Jamaica is a lot different than doing business in the U.S.,” Chin reflects. “I couldn’t survive with one without the other.” The key lesson from his father was relationship-building: “My father was always very appreciative of the team members and the company that made everything possible. There’s just a level of appreciation and respect. Our success is because of them.”
Understanding these cultural differences became crucial as the company prepared for international expansion. The differences between Jamaican and American business practices proved educational. “In Jamaica, some of the companies are still quite young. In the U.S., I find that companies have more internal controls when it comes to maximizing sales or eliminating theft,” Chin observes. To bridge this gap, Juici implemented “first world software and technology systems in Jamaica in 2016-2017″.
Scaling Without Sacrificing Soul
With these operational foundations in place, the company was ready to tackle its most ambitious challenge: rapid U.S. expansion while maintaining authenticity and control. The key to Juici Patties’ capital-efficient growth lies in its franchise strategy. “What’s special about our situation is that we’re a franchisor,” Chin explains. “We don’t really need private equity because with the franchise model, we can scale while still maintaining control.” This approach creates a virtuous cycle: “Franchising helps to share in some of the returns. The franchisees build the store out, put in the equipment, and handle construction. I like this model because it helps us make other people wealthy.”
Most franchisees are Jamaican-Americans who understand both the product and the culture. “They bring in business partners — some not Jamaican — but friends of theirs or business partners,” Chin notes. This ensures authenticity while building local entrepreneurship within communities.
The franchise model also supports the company’s unwavering commitment to quality — a principle that drives every business decision. Maintaining family ownership allows Juici to prioritize quality above all else. “One of the most important things for me is quality. Without the quality of the product, we don’t have a business,” Chin emphasized. “The good thing about being 100% owned by the family is that we dictate quality. We set the standards, and there are no other influences that try to ask us to skimp on quality.”
This commitment extends to flavor authenticity. While other chains might modify recipes for new markets, Juici maintains its authentic taste. “I’d rather sell an authentic product and be loved by some, instead of selling an inauthentic product to be liked by everyone,” Chin stated. The signature spicy beef patty uses the same scotch bonnet pepper recipe as in Jamaica: “We don’t hold back on the scotch bonnet. We don’t hold back on the flavor. We go full speed.” (However, a mild version of the patty was introduced just for the U.S. market palate).
As Juici Patties progresses toward its goal of 3,000 U.S. locations, it’s proving that Caribbean businesses can achieve scale without sacrificing authenticity or control. The company’s success reveals surprising demand patterns: “We’re seeing a lot of potential for expanding into pretty much almost every state of the US, even those that don’t have a large Jamaican diaspora population.”
