Continuing their year-long celebration of 50 tasty years in business, Tastee opened to the public its new Liguanea location that will serve as its Kingston flagship as well as the company’s latest addition to the Tastee family of businesses, the Brew’d Awakenings Cafe. At an impressive reception to acknowledge what was hailed as a visionary team effort, the company’s CEO Ryan Foster and the Chang family inaugurated the new location with Tastee supporters, partners and well-wishers.

The Tastee story is well known and remains an inspiring one for all budding Jamaican entrepreneurs. Vincent Chang started his business after completing baking courses in the United States, and returned to Jamaica to open his first bread and pastry business in Union Square in 1966. For the next four years he honed the Tastee patty formula, coining the name based on taste-testers commenting that this patty was really “tasty!” The rest of the story Jamaicans know as well as they know their own, as Tastee became a staple in the Jamaican economy.

In his address saluting the firm and lauding the Pepsi-Cola Tastee partnership, Pepsi Cola Jamaica General Manager, Miguel Almada, remarked that the baked beef-filled treat was the first thing he tried when he came to Jamaica. Almada also commended the family business for evolving with the times, as evident in its Zuar Ltd. futuristic design. Innovation and vision have always been part of the Tastee model, with iconic products such as the Tastee Talent Trail launching the careers of many notable Jamaican talents today, including notables such as Beenie Man, Yellow Man, and Nadine Sutherland.

Other well-wishers such as Trade Winds Citrus Managing Director Peter McConnell noted that the shrewd decision to bring outsiders in to modernise the business, even if that meant a slight step away from the family core, was to be recognised as a hallmark of the Chang business savvy. “Doing anything for 50 years, especially in Jamaica, deserves proper recognition!” said McConnell, who was there to mark his support for the long relationship between his Fressh, Tru Juice and Squeeze brands and Tastee.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Public Service, Fayval Williams, gave her blessing to the new landmark in her constituency (St Andrew Eastern) citing the impressive 150,000 patties produced every day by Tastee factories as an indication of the prominence the iconic food has among Jamaicans – “if the patty was recognised as an innovation, it would be the great innovation of local food” said Williams.

The new flagship eatery sits on two levels and accommodates approximately 40 persons.

What’s New?

Brew’d Awakenings marks Tastee’s first foray into coffee – the sleek new interior and delicious pastry selection heralds a new age for Tastee. The coffee shop in Liguanea is the first of a few to be rolled out in the not too distant future and seats approximately 20 in cool comfort.

All hail the Jerk Chicken Patty !! Tastee CEO Ryan Foster was only too pleased to share the arrival of the newest addition to the Tastee brood that “combined two of Jamaica’s favourite foods; jerked chicken and patties. Thursday Life had a bite and noted the flaky filling with thick chunks of jerked chicken was palate-perfcet. Kimberly Mar, Sales Manager at Best Dressed Chicken was on hand to cheer on the partnership between Best Dressed and Tastee, which she noted with pride ran for the full 50 years of operation!

Tastee’s menu selection has grown over the years to include Jamaican breakfast, fried chicken and sandwiches. At the Liguanea flagship the menu promises to include continental breakfast favourites, pancakes and waffles, as well as an expanded range of lunch items such as pork, shrimp, lobster, pasta and a special Tastee surf’n’turf, to name a few.