Juici Patties relaunches in UK market

By Ricky Browne

Juici Patties are now manufacturing three of their patty products in the UK for sale at three nation-wide supermarket chains – and one of its beef patties can now be bought for a lower price than in its home market of Jamaica.

Patties are known in Jamaica for being one of the most affordable foods for peope to snack on at lunch – attracting blue collar and office workers from across the country for a quick lunch.

But now, patty lovers in Britain can buy a Juici beef patty for a lower price than is currently possible in the Jamaican market.

The past year has not been a good one for most businesses, but there are a few that have pushed ahead with expansion plans, in an effort to develop new markets. Juici Patties one of those companies.

Over the past year of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Juici Patty lovers in the UK have been starved of the savoury pastry, stuffed with meat or spicy vegetables. Ordinarily, visiting friends or family from Jamaica could buy a box of frozen Juici Patties at the airport before departure – but with few if any flights for more than a year now, they were extremely difficult to get a hold of.

RELAUNCH

But Juici Patties is now relaunching its patty in the UK market, continuing its relationship  with a British producer, and is replicating the Jamaican recipe as close as possible to the original – with an emphasis on sourcing the same quality ingredients as in Jamaica.

The deal was first struck in 2016, and its relaunch has involved Juici Patties on one side – led by the founder’s son Daniel Chin – and Cleone Foods and its founder CEO Wade Lyn on the other – who is known as the UK’s ‘Patty King’ as he has been selling his own brand of patty’s in the country. Chin is of Jamaican descent.

This is the first time that Juici will have production in the UK, but it has already expanded to manufacturing patties in Canada and some eight other Caribbean countries.

The classic patty has a  flaky crust stuffed with spicy minced beef. But slowly other types have been introduced by either Juici or its competitors – first the chicken patty, which has chunks of curried chicken and then other versions which could include curry goat, soya, mixed vegetables, shrimp and even lobster.

UK SUPERMARKETS

In the UK, Juici will be selling its beef, chicken and its stew peas versions – the last being a type that is the most recent addition. Stew peas is a Jamaican dish of red peas (kidney beans) cooked with scotch bonnet, scallion and for those who like meat – pickled pigs tail or salt beef. This type of patty is not currently sold in Jamaica, and it is approved by the Vegetarian Society.

Outside of beef, the other two types of patties didn’t appear to on sale at either supermarket yet. How the market will take to a new ‘stewed peas’ version remains to be seen. But not everyone was enamoured with the product.

“There is something on sale in UK called Stew peas patty with your brand name. Whatever that filling is, it is NOT stew peas! Terribly disappointed” said Janet Williams in a message on the Juici Patties Facebook page. Hopefully she’s not a vegetarian and the other two patties will pass muster.

Meanwhile,  Juici beef patties are available at Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison’s supermarkets across the UK. To begin with, the three Juici Patty products will be sold in more than 20 of Sainsbury’s stores.

PRICE OF A JUICI PATTY

Over at Asda, a Juici beef patty sells for £0.90, “Jamaica No 1 patty brand’ says the package – though Tastee Patties may beg to differ. “A blend of finest ground beef with garlic and scotch bonnet peppers wrapped in a golden flaky crust” is the description for the 135 gram patty. The packaging gives the impression of the brown paper bag that juici Patties are served in back in Jamaica. The patty can be ordered online and delivered to your home.

That price is competitive with the price for the same Juici patty in Jamaica – J$180 in Jamaica vs £0.90 in the UK – which works out to about J$190. Not a bad deal at all, for someone who wants a genuine taste of Jamaica in the UK.

Sainsbury’s shoppers who tend to have deeper pockets may have to pay 10p more to buy a Juici beef patty – but still quite a competitive price.

The best deal is a reduced price of just £0.75 at Morrisons – which means that it is selling for just under the price of a Juici beef patty in Jamaica – the equivalent of J$160. It is a special price, discounted from the normal price of £1. So patty lovers should move quick to take advantage.

But it still represents a bit of a premium compared to other patties on the UK market. Sainsbury’s also sells a ‘Jerk Beef Jamaican Pattie” with an “authentic Jamaican recipe” sold under the Island Delight brand, and featuring a short crust pastry. At 140 grams, the patty is slightly larger than the Juici version, and yet sells for just £0.60 – or 33 percent less.

The patty earns a rating of 2.5 stars out of a possible five. Island Delight also makes some other versions, including a lamb, jerk chicken, salt fish and vegetable. The other patties sell for 90p, with only the beef version at 60p – at a 20p reduction, possibly to try and stave off the new Juici entrant.

Island Delight is the brand name for Wade Lyn’s Birmingham-based Cleone Foods – which is the company that Juici is using for the production of its own brand.

REVIEWS

The Juici beef patty earns 3.5 stars out of 5 at Sainsbury’s, with so far five reviews.

“Finally we have a proper Jamaican patty company in the UK. I found the patty to be juicy and made with the correct flaky curst. I did not have any gristle in the patties I ate. 100% better than the usual substandard gun sold in the UK” said Annie 100 in a five star reviw.

“This is by far the closest to an authentic Jamaican patty” wrote Kersha in another five star review.

But not everyone was quite as complimentary.

“Juici beef patty is not juicy at all. I found it dry and the flavour was nothing to talk about,” said Gnana in a one star review.

The Juici beef patty scored even higher at Morrisons – getting an average of four stars out of five. One of the best comments came with a five star rating:

“The Usain Bolt of Jamaican Patties

Finally REAL tasting Jamaican patties available from the supermarket. Far superior than the others located on the shelf. Taste like it came straight from JA.”

OTHER JAMAICAN PRODUCTS ON THE SHELF

Sainsbury’s also has a handful of other Jamaican or Jamaican-style products. These include a few Jamaican brands such as Red Stripe beer, Eaton’s Jamaican Scotch Bonnett Pepper Sauce and Grace Jamaican Style Jerk. There are also a few British-based brands which produce Jamaican-style sauces, including Encona and Dunn’s River.

Sainsbury’s itself sells its own brand of Jamaican-style soup – Sainsbury’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken Soup. That is not a soup that currently exists to any great extent in Jamaica, and has little relationship to the level of spiciness found in Jamaican jerk – but the product earns three out of five stars, so is regarded quite highly.

JUICI HISTORY

Juici Patties started in 1980, and is considered one the best of Jamaica’s mass-produced patty companies. The company has its main base at Clarendon Park, close to the border between Clarendon and Manchester in Jamaica – where the company has its abbatoir for its beef production, with a restaurant that includes a drive-through window. The freshness of the patties at that location is considered to be a cut above most other patty restaurants across the island.

Patties, often combined with a coco bread, is a Jamaican lunch staple, giving a relatively affordable and tasty meal.

Juici – which was first known as Juici Beef, is considered by many to be the best of the mass-produced patties in Jamaica, though its in a stiff competiton for that position with the slightly more established Tasty Patties. Another competitor, Mother’s Patties, is relegated to third place, but it also owns Devon House Patties, which are considered by many to be Jamaica’s premier brand of patty – offering lobster as one of its options.

Juici has been quite an inventive company and was the first producer to brand its patties, with its name baked right into the patty crust.

Juici Patties claims to be the largest fast food chain in Jamaica with some 60 stores across the island.

The company was started by Jukie Chin as a 16-year-old entrepreneur, working out of his mother’s kitchen and selling them in the family’s grocery store in the countryside in the parish of Clarendon. He opened his first Juici patty store in May Pen in 1980, with just three employees – a cashier, a baker and Jukie himself.

In 1994 the company centralised its manufacturing and then started its franchise operation, allowing it to expand to Kingston and to northern parishes.

By 2001, Juici Patties made history by becoming the first fast food chain to have operations in all 14 parishes. Other competing fast food chains include: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Tastee Patties, Mothers and Burger King.

In 2002 Juici Patties moved its head office and manufacturing plant to Clarendon Park – which included the Juici Abattoir – something that doesn’t seem to put off many patrons, and helps to ensure that the meat is as fresh as possible.

The company and its franchises now employ more than 1,400 people across the island.

WIDE MENU

The company may need to consider another name change. Just as it outgrew its first name of Juici Beef, when it expanded into other patty lines – it may now need to consider dropping the ‘Patties’ part of the name, as its menu is now far more extensive, including items like three types of porridge (cornmeal, hominy and peanut) national dish ackee and saltfish, callaloo and saltfish, several types of patties including Chicken, shrimp, beef, vegetable, soy and ackee, several loaves (like a patty but with a softer bread-like pastry, including beef, vegetable and callaloo), soups such as red pea and chicken, and more common fast-food fare like fried chicken and chips. And then some sweet pastries like banana bread and carrot cake.

The menu is far more extensive than several successful American fast food chains which tend to concentrate on only a few items. And perhaps the company should now change the name to simply “Juici”.

The post A Jamaican Juici beef patty costs less in the UK than in its home market appeared first on Matt Haycox.