Welcome And Meet Franklin

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Carry On Friends, the Caribbean American experience. And I have Franklin joining me for this episode. I can't wait to get into it. Franklin, how are you feeling? What's going on?

SPEAKER_00 0:15

I didn't know my name was Franklin, but I'm very happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

So what's his name? Franklin?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

There you go. Thanks for the invitation. Pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Wonderful. So why don't you tell the community of friends a little bit about who you are, Caribbean country you represent, and a little bit about the work you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Well, I'm from Jamaica, the best Caribbean country out there. I mean, I mean. Yeah. So I'm uh I'm heavily involved with the Juicy Patties franchise, one of the franchises here in the States, and tasked with the um the heavy but um happy burden of carrying that brand here.

Growing Up On Patty Lunch Money

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Wonderful. So before we get into the juicy part, you know, talk to me about growing up in Jamaica. What was your first patty experience since we are, you know, talking about all things good about Jamaica and Patty life and things.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

I think it came through the umbilical cord, really.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

I mean when mommy was healing, she was peckish for something.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

I mean, you know, I think the first few cells, I mean, there's had to be some ground beef in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

That is a good one. That is a good one.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Um, no, all right, seriously. I I remember my grandfather used to give me uh 50 cents um to to uh buy lunch, uh going to going to school. And the thing to do was patty, a cocoa bread, and a box juice, or a sky juice, right? We had uh Mr. Roe with his hand cart and uh crushed ice and the syrup, and it was like orange or red, green. Or all three. Or all three, rainbow, that's right. I forgot about that. Yeah. So when I got older, it occurred to me, where does Mr. Roe wash his hands? So I started to stick to the box juice more after that.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

I think at one point, you know, we all go back to that recollection in like in primary school where all the food vendors, you're like, but wait, where was the bathroom? Where was the bathroom? Creamy, creamy, creamy. Hold on. Yes, yes, yes. No, you're bringing me back, especially in this idea of the lunch money. So when Juicy came to Mobay, you know, um, I was in high school, so you can't leave campus until after school. So, you know, say yes, save up your lunch money because afterwards you're gonna get some hot potty. And that's what you did. So um that's you know, and that's also the social place where everybody hung out and, you know, had a had a good time. So interesting.

From Tech To Franchise Life

SPEAKER_01 3:02

So let's go back a little bit and talk to me a little bit about your background in terms of, you know, you you left from Jamaica, you came, where, and how did you get into business?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Wow, yeah. Um, so uh I I I came here uh because you know, my mom wanted me to go to a good Christian school with my my uncle, a good uh Adventist pastor. So I was in Tennessee at Southern College and then came to Florida, uh, finished a degree in computer science and math, um, got into software engineering. My dad was an entrepreneur like most Jamaicans, right? And so that was in my blood, and I kind of did things on the side. Eventually looked into Moonlight, uh, became interested in this franchise, had an opportunity to do something with my dad in Mandeville, and that kind of bifurcated into this thing. And all of a sudden I found myself, you know, a multi-unit franchisee in the States focusing entirely on this business. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

When

Keeping Juici Authentic Abroad

SPEAKER_01 4:01

we think of Jamaica as a brand itself, right? You think of It's a strong one, you know. Yeah, yeah, right. And you think of the many brands within Jamaica, we won't name them here, but the many brands. How does a brand like Juicy Brand travel without losing itself? Because that is the concern that if you grow up with it, you have this not really taste like, or this not really come in like, like what does that responsibility feel like? And, you know, how do you ensure that it travels well?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

You know, for our employee orientation, one of the first things we do uh is I attend every single one and I tell the story, the 40 year, the 40-plus year history of Juicy Patties going back to Juki Chin with his mother's stove, which he still owns, by the way, right? To tell you the kind of guy he is, right? And the focus on consistency and quality of scale. From a 16-year-old with a vision for a better product to the success that now feeds all of us came from the simple idea of delivering an exceptional patty with exceptional service every time, right? So we take that very seriously, right? Um, we think that is uh a core value, a core part of our value proposition, and a non-negotiable, right? We instill that in our employees with our leadership. That's that's what we're all about, right? You there are hundreds of places, there are over 500 places in New York City where you can buy a patty, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Uh you you're already answering my second question, which is you know, how does that compete in a place in New York where everywhere you turn, there's a patty, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

So, you know, another story that we ought we'd like to use is analogies. Think about Starbucks, right? There was a time in the United States where still you can get coffee anywhere. Every gas station, McDonald's, uh bodega, uh you name it. There's coffee everywhere, right? Diners and all that. But you don't know what you're getting. And the idea of Starbucks is to normalize that experience and make the experience exceptional. And I will go into Starbucks and I will pay $7 for a cup of coffee because I like the experience. I like knowing that's going to be the same thing every single time, right? I like the um hearing my name, being able to sit down and get on the Wi-Fi and work for a couple of hours. I mean, the experience, the consistency, this is all a part of the product, right? So for us, it's not okay to sell an okay patty, right? An okay patty ruins the brand. When we uh opened the store in Fulton, the first store in Brooklyn and in New York, right? It went viral on TikTok, right? And and pretty much the question was, is this the real juicy beef? And yes, it is, right? And that virality came from the brand equity that the Chin family built up, right? And if we don't maintain that brand equity, right, or that those brand values, we will find ourselves just another patty shop, right? And that won't work for us. The amount of money we're investing into these stores, into our employees, you know, the growth we're promising our employees, uh, the scale that we uh are chasing for the country, the category that we're trying to create for Caribbean food, you know, the responsibility that we've been blessed with, right, to take this cultural amalgamation of our history to the world after the world gave it to us, right? From the British, the indentured servants, the uh Indians, the Chinese, and so forth that brought their flavor profiles to the country. We put that all that into the patty, and now we're bringing that same patty back to the world, right? So yeah, that's this is all you know extremely important for us. And we are, I think, one of the brands of Jamaica, if you will, right? Usain Bolt, uh, Bob Marley, Reggae Music. I would like to put the Jamaican patty up there with them. And we are one of the preeminent Jamaican patty brands, right? So we take that responsibility seriously, and we have been admonished to take that brand seriously by our customers. There was, when we opened this our first store in um in Florida, there was uh an elderly woman who came to the store and she we weren't even open yet, and she's like, We have pray for you, you know. You know what I mean? So, so um, yeah, we don't take it lightly, to put it simply.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Even in that, I think I think people, I think it gives a clue as to what it means.

Pressure As Privilege In Business

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Like a uh uh grandma come up to you and say, Me, I pray for you, do I beg you, make sure someone gets it right. It's not just only being admonished, it's it's like the weight of the community's like, we want this to be successful. We're gonna support you, make sure you keep it right. And you know, at any point is that weight something you're like, why? I will pressure this, and I'm gonna know if I can't manage it. Has that thought ever come to you or does it scare you the weight of that?

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Not at all. No, it excites me. Um now, I take the responsibility seriously, right? But, you know, like most entrepreneurs, right? It's all about what you can control, right? Focus on the things you control. You don't live in, you don't live in fear. Um, you live in a place where you look for actions that you can take, right? So rather than waste energy on, you know, pointless spheres, you know, we focus on how do we onboard our employees, right? How do we communicate these ideas, how do we set the customer values, you know, how do we communicate to our community, to our customers, to our um employees these values, right? And if we do that, if we focus on the details, making sure that, you know, every patty that we serve is a hot, flaky, fresh patty, right? Those fundamentals, then what's there to be afraid of? You know, we're lucky to have this privilege. Pressure is a privilege. So say the tennis players, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah. And again, you answered one of my questions, which was what does actually protecting the integrity of the brand look like? And that is how you train the employees, how you communicate, you know, the brand and the responsibility of the brand, like in real time. It's not just theory, it's just like what does this look like in theory? So I I'm in in real decisions. So that's wonderful. Now let's go back to, you know, you said every Jamaican is an entrepreneur, right? And I mean, I mean, uh really and truly, like, you know, I tell the story all the time. Like, I grew up selling ice because not all of my neighbors had electricity. So, you know, you make money by using the old plastic containers, pushing them in the freezer and selling ice, or however other way you get creative. I'm not saying that is the same as this, but was there anything in your upbringing, in your experience that prepared you or helped to prepare you for the role that you currently have and the responsibility that you have for multiple franchises um within the US?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Um, sure. I mean, uh my father is a an entrepreneur, right? He had multiple businesses, and I learned from him the power of relationships, the power of integrity, right? Um, that that currency is more valuable than money itself, right? You know, my mother as well, I mean, you know, she was a very conservative Adventist woman, and you know, she trained us to have traditional values, right? So, um, and those things are worth their weight in gold uh in this space. Coming to a city like New York, and everyone feels that, you know, New York is this jungle, this concrete jungle, and you have to be a certain way. And, you know, one of the ways that we differentiate ourselves is that, you know, we see the village within New York, right? For example, the landlords, right? It's a small community, right? From a certain perspective, the community is much smaller than you think. And whether you're in a small town or a large city, uh old-fashioned traditional values still travel well. Right? So it's the same thing. It's just fundamentals, doing the basics well.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Yeah.

Making Caribbean Food A Category

SPEAKER_01 12:59

I want before I get into uh a little fun round, um, I wanted to go back to something that you said. Yeah, it escaped my mind, you know, the brain now so fresh. Um you said something about um expanding the category or for Jamaican patties. Is that what you said? Or I try to remember what you said.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Something about Um, what did I say? Something about um uh establishing a new category for Caribbean food.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Yes. Talk to me a little bit about what what you mean by that and what your vision is when it comes to establishing this new category. What does that mean in actuality?

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Well, um there's a gap. Um there's a gap in in the US. So you have Italian food has been normalized, Mexican food has been normalized, right? Um Caribbean food is still somewhat of a novelty, right? But it's much loved, right? And you know, there's an opportunity to consolidate that attention and energy, right? Uh and I think that a brand like Juicy Paddies has a unique opportunity to be a part of that.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Um, okay. Let me pull on that string a little bit. So some people might say um in the process of Mexican culture being normalized, you have other people outside the culture profiting off the culture or the food than the people who themselves are the business owners who are from that culture. And I think that sometimes that could be a fear that Caribbean people might have, that it gets away from them. Someone else becomes more famous for their own culture than they are. So what do you say about what would you say to people who have those concerns?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

It's valid. It's a valid concern. Um, the thing that encourages me is that if you look at ownership, right, this is still a family-run business. Juicy has remained a family-run business throughout its history, right? Um, and I think that is a another core value, right? Um I think that Juki's son is the one who is leading discharge in the states. And there's there's no plan to uh sell this to you know private equity or have you know the anyone else but Jamaicans at the helm, right? I think that uh the Chin family is very big on legacy and this is their baby. Even though it's grown and become an adult for sure, it's still their baby, right? Um and you know, they have selected franchisees, I think, who reflect and support those values, like myself, right? It's important that our values are aligned, right? And and that is something that the that uh Juicy Foods Limited here in the States is focused on, just as juicy patties in Jamaica is.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Wonderful.

The Patty Picks And Drink Debate

SPEAKER_01 16:10

All right, so we're gonna have a little fun potty game. All right, so mild or spicy beef, what's your favorite?

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I'm Jamaican, spicy.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Coco bread or straight potty?

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Ah, depends on the mood. How hungry are you?

SPEAKER_01 16:31

That is true, that is true. All right, shrimp potty, oxtail potty, all kind of potty. When does innovation become violation? So which variation of the original beef you think is second best?

SPEAKER_00 16:49

Second best? Oh wow. Um, that's a good one. Yeah, for me personally, I like the curry chicken.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

I think the chicken was gonna be a second one. I'm I'm a shrimp girl. Um all right. Um if you could eat one patty version forever, which one would it be? I know you said you like spicy, but manually you can't, man, it's spicy all the time. So which potty would you eat forever if that was the only thing you could eat? Which version?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Oh man, probably the vegan spinach is probably the healthiest.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

I'm I'm telling you. That's what I was called. The veggie patty.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Yes. But I but I would I would eat the vegan spinach, but I have a picture of my spicy beef on the one that I look at.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

I love it. I love it. Oh my gosh. All right. I'm gonna ask one one next one. Like this is an outlier, but okay. The best drink that you can drink to accompany a nice hot patty. What's your what's what's that drink you salissa? Nothing beat a patia drink.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Oh man, oh man. Well, if I'm gonna go with the the tradition, the you know, the old folks, right, from long time, diet Pepsi, right? Or a Pepsi. But for me, oh man, probably a ting is probably my go-to. That's what I was gonna say. But ting. I mean, those those commercials work, man.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

The the cola champagne. The ting, you know, fine, but the cola champagne or any one of the DNG soft drinks would would have been my pick. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Remember that commercial, Gimme the Ting with a doctor?

SPEAKER_01 18:34

But it wasn't. Yes. But if but also what I also loved was like if I couldn't get, you know, the soft drink, because back then we call it irrated water. And the the it was it felt stronger. Maybe because we were kids and it just felt like when you drink it, it had a this the fizz was a bit stronger. So if I didn't feel like having a soft drink, I would definitely have a juicyful box drinks. Yeah. Yes. I had to be that, that or the pineapple. That's it. You know, that's what I was having. So, you know, bringing me back to my days, bringing me back to

Hopes For Jamaican Brands And Home

SPEAKER_01 19:14

my days. So as you wrap up, Franklin, you are very aware of the legacy. You carry it with pride, you know, so pressure is responsibility and all of that. What is your hope for the next generation of Jamaican brands who are trying to establish themselves in the US? Like Jamaica, as a Jamaican entrepreneur leading this charge, right? Because you and I know that Winnashata brands in Jamaica, I know Juicy's in your purview right now, but you are leading that charge for other brands to follow, right? And so what is your hope for the growth of Juicy and how that has downstream impacts for the country and the region and for a new group of entrepreneurs to rise up and, you know, make Jamaica bigger than what it is. But, you know, I'm I'm biased because we're at Jamaican.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

But what's my hope? Um my hope is I'm beautiful Jamaica, right? I I would love to see Jamaica. I it it's sad to go home and see um, you know, our infrastructure deteriorating, right? It's amazing that we're such a uh a cultural superpower in the world, right? Um and as we start to export these brands, I would love to see that lift Jamaica economically, right? Maybe it's um production facilities, placing more attention on Jamaica as a place for investment, right? A place for development, right? There's so many unique qualities about Jamaica beyond just um you know its music and its athletes and its food, right? I mean, the the geographical location, right, as a as a port country, um, the large English-speaking population, right? Just the natural resources, the beauty of the country, these are things that are underutilized, right? And I would love to see our uh emergence as a place of economic interest, not just, you know, a tourist destination.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

I agree. Wonderful. Well, thank you, Franklin, for being on the podcast. I it was a complete pleasure talking to you and catching up and walking down memory lane about all things patty, but also, you know, really feeling because manangala, first question I'm asking, you're Jamaican? Because I know that's the that's how we feel about juicy, right? Who's who's who's who's responsible for this child, you know, this baby? And it's it's that fear based in love, right? You you if you if you didn't love it, you wouldn't you wouldn't care who's running it, right? It doesn't matter. You know, but when you when you care about it, you want to know that it's in good hands and it's gonna be this is our this is ours, right? Yes, to understand the love is to understand that this is why people are borderline protective of what happens with it. So I'm I'm glad it's in good hands and I am so excited for the future. And most importantly, I am so glad that I don't have forgotten Jamaica and buy a box of patty to come back home. Buy a box of patty and come, you know, like my my my sister-in-law jokes with my brother-in-law when he's coming back. Two box of patties the price of admission, you know.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

And make sure it's juicy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Exactly, exactly, right? You know all the tingle, and I mean, so it's it's really exciting. And I mean, I'm laughing, but I'm serious, you know. Yeah, it's serious. Oh, well it's serious. So um I'm super excited. Congratulations, and and I and and I don't think people realize when you're away from home, it's the food and these other things that feel you make you feel connected to home. So it's not just about going into the store, it's a memory when you bite into a patty, a conversation with a friend. And I think it's you know, it's not to sound cheesy, but it's more than just I eat a patty, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

So of course, of course.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah. So thank you for being on the show. It was wonderful to have you. And as I love to see at the end of every episode, walk good.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Thank you so much. Walk good.