Countdown to the 27th Staging of the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards

Principal

Vincent Lopez

A history of the company

I’m a born and raised New Yorker with Jamaican grandparents. I moved from New York to Montego Bay after meeting my now wife on one of my frequent trips to visit family and friends.

When planning this transition I had to figure out what the next chapter looked like. While in Jamaica, I cooked for our family, our friends, and our neighbours. Some of them started asking if they could buy meals from me to keep in the freezer for busy weeknights, long business trips, or just to have some comfort food in the house. What began as a favour revealed something bigger: There was a real gap in this market for restaurant-quality meals you could enjoy at home with almost no effort. So I decided to take a chance and went all in. Cousin Vinny’s Kitchen was born.

The range of new products

Our prepared meals launched in early-2025: Chicken Pot Pie, Traditional Lasagna, Chicken Lasagna, and Meatballs in Marinara Sauce. We followed with our pasta sauce range (Alfredo, Vodka, and Marinara) and a dessert line that has quickly become one of our most talked-about categories: Dark Chocolate Brownies, Tiramisu, and Apple Tarts

In late 2025, we added on our Basque Cheesecake, which we’re following up with our Biscoff cheesecake coming this year. In 2026 we also introduced a home-made chicken stock that we used to just make at home but realised had potential on the market..

Where the ingredients are sourced

We use local ingredients wherever the quality matches what we’re trying to deliver — our meats, our fresh herbs, Scotch bonnet, and the local coffee that finds its way into some of our desserts. For everything else, we rely on imports. We’ve also started producing some of our own ingredients in-house. Our vanilla, for example, is made by us, and it’s superior to anything we can buy on the local market.

Where the products are currently being sold

You can find us at Loshusan Supermarket, General Foods, The Butcher Shoppe, CPJ, and select Progressive Grocers, with additional outlets coming on board soon.

The story behind the packaging for the products

The name “Cousin Vinny’s” came from my family which quickly became my nickname here. This is how I was introduced by my family and, as nicknames go, the name stuck. As for my logo, I wanted to give an elevated feel to truly represent the food. Not just another frozen mass-produced meal, but something that was made with love, care, skill, and makes you feel as if you’re personally being catered to.

The products became available to the public in…

2025

Our core customers are…

Anyone who wants a restaurant-quality meal at home without the work. Busy professionals coming home after a long day. Families who want to eat well without spending two hours in the kitchen. People who want to host guests without a lot of effort. Someone who wants to give the gift of food to a loved one who’s going through a hard time.

Our customer is someone who knows what arrives in a takeaway box 20 minutes after it leaves the kitchen and is looking for something better. With Cousin Vinny’s you put the dish in the oven, walk the dog or take a shower, and come back to a meal that tastes like it just came out of a restaurant kitchen, because that’s what it is.

The response to the products has been…

Overwhelmingly positive. Beyond the tiramisu story, what stays with me is how often people tell me they didn’t know food like this was available locally. We’ve had customers buy a single tray to try, then come back the following week to stock their freezer. That’s the response we hoped for.

My products are successful because…

We don’t compromise on ingredients, and we don’t cut corners on technique. Every dish is made by skilled hands, the same way you’d prepare it for someone you love. We also blend the best of where I come from with the best of where I am now: classic New York and Italian-American cooking, with Jamaican touches like Scotch bonnet, local coffee, and island spices. The result is food that feels familiar and comforting at the same time.

I plan to grow the business to become…

The name Jamaicans reach for when they want a restaurant-quality meal at home. In markets like the UK, brands like Marks & Spencer have built an entire category around premium ready meals as a genuine alternative to dining out. That category doesn’t really exist here yet, and we’re building it.

My major challenge is……

Sourcing quality ingredients reliably and affordably. Because so much of what we use is imported, we carry the full weight of duties before General Consumption Tax (GCT) even enters the picture, which puts real pressure on our pricing. Beyond cost, supply consistency is its own challenge. Key ingredients can be unavailable for weeks at a time, and the only way through is disciplined planning and a willingness to absorb the risk of holding extra stock.

My post-Hurricane Melissa message, having given consideration to the importance of food security, Sustainability and supporting our local food ecosystem, is…..

Hurricane Melissa was the second major storm to test Jamaica’s food ecosystem in roughly 18 months, and its impact reached every part of the chain; from local farms to the ports that bring in what we can’t produce ourselves. For us, it reinforced something we’d already been learning: Resilience has to be built into the foundation of a food business, not improvised when crisis hits. The investments we’d made in inventory planning, in producing certain ingredients ourselves, and in strong relationships with our suppliers and retailers were what carried us through. Looking ahead, food security on this island will depend on a stronger local growing base, more efficient infrastructure, and a community of food businesses that share knowledge and lift each other up. I want Cousin Vinny’s to be part of building that future. Not just feeding people well, but contributing to a more secure and connected food ecosystem in Jamaica.

Photographer: Naphtali Junior

Contact Information

E-mail: cvkitchen876@gmail.com

Tel: 876-885-0307

Cousin Vinny’s Dark Chocolate Brownie (left) and Tiramisu(Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Cousin Vinny’s Kitchen’s range of desserts (clockwise, left) Basque Cheesecake, Dark Chocolate Brownie, Biscoff Cheesecake and Tiramisu. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

During his presentation, principal Vincent Lopez reflects on the entrepreneurial journey that led to the founding of Cousin Vinny’s Kitchen. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards judges (from left) Lloyd Waller, Patricia Henry-Brown and Norma Williams give their full attention to the presentation as Williams enjoys the Biscoff Cheesecake.