The team at Juici Patties deserve highest commendation for their big move into two of the largest supermarket chains in the United Kingdom (UK), where they have a glorious opportunity to keep the Jamaican flag flying while earning precious foreign exchange.

According to the Thursday Food section of this newspaper, Juici patties are now being sold at 97 Sainsbury supermarket outlets, the second largest, and at Morrisons, the fourth largest, since last month.

The news is even brighter for 2022 when the product will be ramped up to 220 Sainsbury supermarkets that, together with Morrisons, will bring the total number of outlets in the UK to 293.

The patties are produced in the UK under the supervision of master chefs from Juici Patties Jamaica, who have more than 100 years of combined experience making the patties, Mr Daniel Chin, Juici Patties’ director of operations, says.

It is interesting to see what intense competition between two of Jamaica’s foremost patty manufacturers — Tastee and Juici Patties, both of which were Jamaica Observer Business Leader nominees — has achieved for the owners, and the island in general. Wherever one outlet is, the other is usually not far behind.

The Jamaican patty, which is produced by many other smaller manufacturers today, is in any country where Jamaicans can be found in significant numbers. It’s popularity continues to grow to the extent that a few years ago a credible online food site, askmen.com, ranked it third among the World’s Most Delicious Street Foods.

An author, food writer, broadcaster, and judge on The Food Network’s hit show The Next Iron Chef wrote: “Visit the stunning island of Jamaica and you will rapidly find, as I did, that people fall into one of two rival camps when it comes to sourcing their favourite portable treat. Everyone is in full agreement that the spicy beef patty is the way to go, but people are capable of arguing all day about where you should buy them.”

From estimates available pre-COVID, the patty remains as popular at home as overseas. For example, Tastee and Juici Patties are producing an estimated 300,000 patties a day, and not long ago were exporting at least four containers a week between them.

Tastee, in particular, was credited with 51 locations islandwide; 10 concessionaires in schools; 15 franchise locations — four of which are mobile patty express trucks in the towns of Ocho Rios in St Ann, Port Antonio in Portland, and Annotto Bay, and Highgate in St Mary — as well as 18 Tastee branches. The company also operates concessionaires in several government ministries.

To support that, more than 6,000 cows have to be slaughtered for beef each year, more than 31,000 bags of flour and tens of thousands of pounds of chicken meat utilised, driving Tastee’s benefits deep into the Jamaican economy. The figures are likely to be higher today.

There is no doubt that the patty owes its popularity to the fact that, for the Jamaican working man and woman, the crusty little flour and meat delicacy makes for a filling, nutritious, and still very affordable lunch.

Congrats to both companies.