Kicking-off the Labor Day Holiday weekend in South Florida—City of Sunrise to be exact—was the much-anticipated grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony of Juici Patties. In partnership with the Sunrise Chamber of Commerce, this celebratory event delivered a vibrant exhibition of Jamaican culture and cuisine.
The Story of Juici Patties
Juici Patties started when then 16-year old, Jukie Chin (company founder) began making patties in his mother’s kitchen and selling them in the grocery store owned by his parents. For those unfamiliar with the Jamaican-style patty, it is a flaky, golden, handmade, and then baked pastry filled with beef traditionally (“beef patty”). These days, Jamaican patties are filled with chicken, vegetables, cheese, lobster, etc.
The year 1980 marked the first Juici Patties location, which had only three employees—a cashier, a baker and Jukie himself. Today, there are over 60 Juici Patties locations in Jamaica, and in recent years Juici Patties has been expanding to the U.S.—including its latest openings in South Florida (Lauderhill and Sunrise Florida).
Grand opening ceremony
The grand opening took place on Friday, August 30th at 1:00 PM, and began with a lively meet and greet, a ribbon cutting ceremony, followed by afternoon festivities. What’s more, there was an exclusive tasting session of some of the signature dishes offered by Juici Patties.
On hand for this tasty event were a number of notables: Daniel Chin (Director of Operations and CEO of the USA division of Juici Patties); Edith Chin (Director of Juici Patties); Michael J. Ryan (City of Sunrise Mayor); Mark Douglas (Sunrise City Commissioner); Neil C. Kerch (Sunrise City Commissioner); Morey Wright (City of Tamarac Vice Mayor); Oliver Mair (Consul General of Jamaica to the Southern USA); Ian Hamilton (CEO of South Florida Caribbean News); and several members of the Sunrise Chamber of Commerce as well as new Juici Patties franchisees.
Story and photos by Nick Ford
