In every nook and cranny of Jamaica there are Familiar Faces who have become an integral part of a community, but some of us don’t even know their name. In fact, some of their stories remain untold. Who are they? Where are they from? And how did they get there? The Sunday Observer Familiar Faces series explore these and more!

A line of hungry patrons gathers around a grey Toyota Probox in Central Plaza where popular soup vendor Nicardo “Bulbie Soups” Sayers serves steaming cups of his in-demand soup. Bulbie, with his easy-going smile and down-to-earth personality, has earned a reputation for serving the “baddest soup” at the Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew, location.

But, his journey to becoming a soup vendor began out of frustration.

“I use to do taxi and I just get fed up one day because, trust mi, taxi will drive you insane,” Sayers told the Jamaica Observer.

With a family background in cooking he decided to try his hand at preparing and selling soup.

“My mother is a chef, my father is a chef. I said to my mother, ‘Mommy, you know me a try di soup ting,’ and we just try the soup ting and the soup ting work,” he explained.

He started selling on Molynes Road in the parish and then moved to Central Plaza, where his business quickly gained traction. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Bulbie recounted when a policeman would patrol the area, tell the vendors to stop selling, and would take away their goods and cookware.

“Him tell me one time, ‘Hey, when yuh go home me nuh want no more soup selling so don’t come back a Half-Way Tree,” he recalled.

The situation disheartened Bulbie but he decided it would not stop him.

“Trust mi, I am not so easily demotivated — yuh have to come good fi kick mi off a mi stride,” he said.

He is now one of the go-to vendors in Central Plaza.

“Him tie wi by wi foot,” Anika, one of his customers, told the Sunday Observer, pointing to his cleanliness among the reasons she keeps returning.

Neil, another customer, suggested that GraceKennedy should give the soup vendor a food truck.

Here are five things Observer Online reporter Carlysia Ramdeen and videographer Gavin Jones learnt about Sayers recently:

1. He makes trips to the market daily for fresh food.

“Every morning I go to the market because I like to get my food fresh, fresh out the dirt. So like the farmer dem dig the food last night, I go to the market in the morning to catch the food… when you buy your food fresh and put fresh food in your pot, you get a fresh taste. Why yuh tink Bulbie Soups so fresh? … yeah man, fresh with a lot of salt.”

As for a secret ingredient to his soup, he jokes: “I am keeping my secret, like the Colonel [Sanders of KFC fame].”

2. Social media plays a huge role in his business.

Dancehall artiste Ding Dong was among the first public figures to rave about Bulbie Soups on social media, and since then other social media personalities have followed, fuelling the vendor’s popularity. People now visit from all over just to try his soup.

3. The most important business lesson he’s learnt is to treat everyone with respect.

“Personality and business go a far way, because a lot of people have their business and the more popular they get, they start disrespect their customers. They start feeling like they are better than their clients, and that’s where they go wrong. The higher you go in life is the more humble you should stay,” he explained.

4. He is a dancer — or as he puts it, a skanker.

“I used to dance, or skank, because dem seh a girl dance and man skank. So, I was a skanker. Me and Macka Diamond used to par way back in the days [at] Dutty Friday [and] Passa Passa. I’m a party person. I love to dress up and go party, and me a go do mi two likkle dance and gwaan wid miself,” he said.

5. He wants to turn his ‘Probox operation’ into a franchise, with “Bulbie Soups” across Jamaica and even in the United States. He hopes his brand can live on, bringing warmth and comfort to anyone by offering a hearty cup of soup.