KIMBERLEY Perkins-Forbes transformed what used to be her side hustle into Signature Pepper Shrimp, a product that she now markets across the island. She runs the culinary business, which also offers shrimp boils, from her home-based, retrofitted kitchen in Montego Bay where she does almost everything herself — from cooking and packaging to delivering directly to supermarkets and clients.

The shrimp boss, as she is known to friends and business associates alike, also caters for private events while supplying two restaurants with her Signature Pepper Shrimp as an appetizer.

After graduating from college, Perkins-Forbes’ career took her from tourism and the hotel business to sales roles spanning a variety of industries. Her journey from a corporate career to entrepreneurship was the coming together of an idea, opportunity, and a challenging life change that hit her fast and hard when she was made redundant in 2019.

“I was devastated,” she recalled. “I was with the company for 12 to 14 years. The year before I was made redundant I was the top sales rep. However, sometimes when life gives you lemons you turn it into lemonade.”

And that wasn’t hard to do, because Perkins-Forbes already had the right ingredients in place.

In her former job, whenever she attended a corporate party she always brought peppered shrimps as her contribution. Taking note that everyone loved them, it quickly dawned on her that she could make a business out of it.

“I started to deliver them on Fridays, which was usually a slow day in my job as a sales rep,” she related. “I took orders, sold them by the pound, drove around and dropped them off.”

“I prepared the shrimp from scratch,” the entrepreneur continued. “And I sourced my peppers from local farmers.”

After being made redundant she leaned heavily into her side hustle, doing what she could to preserve even a fraction of her income. The results were well beyond her expectations.

“My audience got wider as word got around,” Perkins-Forbes said. “And I started catering as well, adding shrimp boil to the offering — but only that — because I wanted to focus on my area of expertise.”

Leveraging 16 years of sales experience, she began targeting supermarkets and other outlets, using her personal selling skills and knowledge to tap into new marketing networks.

“Being out there, covering half the island, and knowing people from my pre-existing network, helped tremendously to open doors,” the businesswoman explained. “It was just easier because I was already accustomed to introducing products to new people who would be a good fit. I did a lot of footwork, just walking with samples and promoting my pepper shrimp.”

Five years after going into the business full time, Signature Pepper Shrimp is now stocked in supermarkets, minimarts and gas stations across the north coast and Kingston.

“To go back to what I said about making lemonade when life gives you lemons, I like to think of the lemons as representing losing my job,” the shrimp boss explained. “The sugar for the lemonade was my pepper shrimp, which found a sweet spot in the market. The water was my knowledge of sales and marketing that helped me to flow easily from corporate life to self-employment, nourishing a new business.

“That’s how you mix lemonade,” she laughed.

Perkins-Forbes says she is in a far stronger financial position than when she worked for others. However, rather than disclose her earnings she instead underscored her stability by relating how she was able to cope with a recent major personal crisis.

“I had a heart attack during Easter,” she shared. “The surgery to put three stents in my artery cost $2.5 million. I wasn’t able to save that kind of money before but my business now allows me to put down money consistently and comfortably, which helped me meet this crisis head-on.”

“I have cash customers and I have credit customers, so even while I was out for three weeks I still had revenue coming in,” the entrepreneur added. “I didn’t have to worry about my income and the work that I was not able to do while I recovered.”

Signature Pepper Shrimp is a one-person operation. Perkins-Forbes handles the cooking, the marketing, the packaging and the deliveries. It may sound like a lot but working on her own schedule allows her to manage her time without becoming overly taxed. Her husband, who works in a corporate job, helps with deliveries whenever he can.

She is grateful for the flexible schedule because she has committed to paying greater attention to her health and fitness since her medical emergency.

The business continues to grow. The home-based kitchen, retrofitted to pass public health and safety standards, is still sufficient to manage the increasing orders. If more space is needed in the future there is room in her home into which she can expand.

Perkins-Forbes also shared that she now has one dedicated farmer that provides her with peppers, saving her from having to shop around at different farms.

“I expect the growth of the business to be steady and manageable, which is how I like it,” she said. “I don’t want to turn it into a franchise; I don’t want to get so big that I lose my essence or my core. I want to grow my orders with my existing customers and expand my customer base at a manageable pace.”

There is also room for greater family involvement. Although the businesswoman’s husband works in the corporate world and her daughter recently graduated from college with a degree in construction, both are open to becoming more involved in the operation if the need arises.

Kimberley Perkins-Forbes’ journey from corporate sales to full-time entrepreneurship with Signature Pepper Shrimp shows how staying faithful to a proven product, while leveraging past professional skills, can turn a small passion project into a successful and sustainable enterprise.

More importantly for the shrimp boss, the journey has allowed her to maintain greater control over her life, her work, and her product.

“The recipe won’t ever change,” she insisted. “The shrimp and its flavour won’t ever fall off.”

After five years in business Signature Pepper Shrimp is now stocked in supermarkets, minimarts and gas stations across the north coast and Kingston. 

Signature Pepper Shrimp also caters private events, while supplying two restaurants with the product as an appetiser.

Kimberley Perkins-Forbes transformed her side hustle into Signature Pepper Shrimp, a business she operates from her home-based, retrofitted kitchen in Montego Bay.