The Commerce OfCaribbean Cuisine

F A C T S H E E T

The History Of Caribbean Food & Drink BusinessesIn The UKThe Caribbean’s early inhabitants descended to the region from allover the world - France, Portugal, Spain, England, Africa, and India.The cooking techniques, spices and foods of the indigenous ArawakIndian people were influenced by this multi-cultural group of newinhabitants and the result is what is now known as ‘Caribbean Food’.

Caribbean people have been present in the UK since 1948 when therewas a first wave of mass immigration from Jamaica. A little over halfa century since immigration first started, self-employment amongCaribbean people is at around 7%. Many of these businesses revolvearound food - with Food Retail, Restaurants and Takeaways all fallinginto the top ten business types owned by people of Caribbean origin.

An Emerging Ethnic CuisineThe main ethnic food types in the UK are Indian and Chinese, withMexican/Tex-Mex, and Thai making recent inroads into the market.Caribbean food has yet to enjoy the level of penetration and marketvalue of these other ethnic food types, and Caribbean Food was valuedat about £21 million in 2002 - a mere 2% of the billion pound ethnicfood and drink market.

The total ethnic food market has an estimated food retail value of£1.25 billion in 2003 and is forecast to reach £2.16 billion by 2007according to a recent report by Snapshots International. The growthand development of the Caribbean food and drink market is followingthis trend.

This growth is increasingly evident by the visible presence ofCaribbean product found in mainstream supermarkets - drinks,snacks, ready meals, spices, seasonings, and imported fruits andvegetables are available in many of the ethnic food sections of thelarge multiple retailers, and the range of brands and variety ofproducts is becoming wider and wider.

Further supporting this trend, a recent Key Note market researchreport on Ethnic Foods in 2003 reported “the growth of foreign travel,the increasing ethnic diversity in the UK and increasing mediacoverage of foreign cultures and their eating habits have served to

increase demand for more authentic, specialised products.” It isimportant to note that the growth of the ethnic food market is a resultof not only increasing demand from the ethnic communities presentin Britain, but also from a growth in demand from adventurousmainstream consumers and global travellers.

Business Link for London is committed to understanding how it canhelp small companies to start up and grow to fully explore thepotential of this untapped market. In the past year Business Link forLondon’s Knowledge Centre on Black and Minority Ethnic Businesseshas conducted research to understand the issues and challengesfacing Caribbean food businesses, and has been signpostingappropriate sources of advice to businesses operating in the sector.Business Link for London recognises the huge potential of thesebusinesses and aims to lend a helping hand.

Overcoming Challenges Faced Snapshots International’s research reports that restaurants andtakeaways account for three-quarters of the UK Ethnic Food market’ssales value and retail sales account for about a quarter. Evidently thisis an important avenue for raising awareness and encouraging trial ofCaribbean Food and Drink. As a result, Business Link for London isalso looking at all the ways it might help to improve the Caribbeanrestaurant and takeaway industry.

We encourage restaurant owners to take advantage of Business Linkfor London’s ‘restaurant business health check’ - a diagnostic toolthat aims to provide businesses with a comprehensive review andaction plan for improving the restaurant in all areas of itsperformance. Qualitative Research into the challenges faced by thesebusinesses revealed that finance, human resource management stafftraining and marketing are some of the key issues facing thesebusinesses. These translate into service and quality inconsistencyissues across the restaurant sector.

Although progress is being observed with growth in this sector thereare still many barriers to its expansion which have been revealed inour research to date. The evolution of the offering is complicated bythe fact that Caribbean Food varies from island to island (and thereare 16 English speaking islands alone in the Caribbean) and there isno single association with the necessary resources concentrating onthis sector to promote its development. Business Link for London,through the Knowledge Centre on Black and Minority EthnicBusinesses’ funding is playing its part to address some of the majorchallenges faced by the industry and to provide a single source ofinformation for resources and support geared to help businesses inthe sector. Through our research some of the barriers to growth of theindustry have been identified along with some suggestions for howthey might be overcome.

Indian 48%

Chinese 30%

Mexican/Tex Mex 11%

Thai 8%

Caribbean 2%

Others 1%

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The Need To Commercialise Caribbean Cuisine“Home” cooking and cooking from a professional kitchen are entirelydifferent propositions yet many Caribbean restaurants are operatingon the basis of providing traditional home cooking in a restaurantsetting. The economics of the operation of such types of restaurantsis often not thought through by owners of these businesses andpricing is typically skewed towards the budget end. As a result the“profitability” of such businesses is hindering sustainability, and islimiting wider provision of the Caribbean dining experience.

Limited Culinary CrossoverMost restaurants are selling to a local co-ethnic audience andawareness within mainstream society and cross-over to this muchlarger prospective customer group is limited. This is partly due tolocation of restaurants but also to the fare they are offering, whichdoes not yet appeal to a wide cross-section of the general public. Thisis slowly changing with the availability of Caribbean foods inmainstream supermarkets and the introduction of “CaribbeanFusion” cuisine by leading UK Caribbean chefs such as OrlandoSatchell and Patrick Williams.

Inadequate Formal Caribbean Chef TrainingOpportunitiesA few chefs have risen to celebrity status but are the exception ratherthan the rule. There is a lack of training opportunities available inCaribbean Chef skills across the entire UK - with only 3 collegesoffering such courses. Birmingham College of Food and WestministerKingsway College started courses at the NVQ level, and MorleyCollege offers an 18-month course in Caribbean cookery in SouthLondon.

Restricted Location of RestaurantsTo date, the vast majority of Caribbean Restaurants have been locatedin co-ethnic areas which constrains their reach to a wider audience.This tends to reinforce any image associated with the food beingexclusively linked to a particular segment of British society.Undoubtedly cost of premises is a significant factor in determininglocation but there are encouraging signs that this is changing with thearrival of restaurants such as Mr Jerk which now has 2 branches - oneon Queensway and another on Wardour Street in Central London.Business Link for London provides a business premises locatorservice which can help businesses to identify the right premises tomeet their needs.

Conventional Menu OfferingAs Asian cuisine has been “modified” to gain wider acceptance withthe mainstream population, this step is just now commencing in theUK for Caribbean Food. Replicating the Caribbean style of cooking andincorporating Caribbean flavours and cooking techniques intoproducts for mainstream restaurant menus, will go a long way toimproving awareness and trial of this emerging ethnic cuisine.Providing a more informative and educational profile of food types andcooking techniques on menus is also critical to ensuring greaterpenetration into the mainstream.

Limited Ambience & AppealThe Caribbean restaurants for the most part are positioned at thebudget level and thus the décor and service levels are often neglectedand do not create the type of ambience that is inviting or ripe forexperimentation by the wider mainstream audience. There areexceptions such as Cottons and Mango Room which are doing welland augurs favourably for the future of the Caribbean Food sector.Assistance with positioning, branding and other marketing needs isavailable through Business Link for London and its wide businesssupport network - providing a number of specialists that can helprestaurants find their appropriate niche.

General Awareness and AppealAside from restaurants there are currently limited opportunities forthe traditional Caribbean food products and ingredients to gainexposure to the broader population. There have been success storieswith the Jamaican Pattie through companies such as Island Delightand Port Royal Patties who have penetrated supermarkets such asAsda, Sainsbury’s and Safeways up and down the country. Thisproduct has also been modified to cross over to Vegetarians andHalal-eating communities and is available through a variety of fastfood establishments.

However availability to the younger generation - say through schoolmeals - and other targeted groups - such as staff and patients inhospitals (especially those with a high percentage from the Caribbeancommunity) - would serve to catalyse the growth of the market forsuch food. Greater and wider use of Caribbean Food Caterers byprivate companies and public sector organisations would alsopromote awareness of the food to a wider audience.

Resources for the IndustryCaribbean Cuisine Consortium - an association for the CaribbeanFood and Drink industry. Contact through Dawn Grant at 020 85004878 or by email at cc_consortium@yahoo.co.uk. Caribbean FoodEmporium - a website providing a comprehensive source ofinformation about Caribbean food and drink atwww.caribbeanfoodemporium.com. Ethnic Minority EnterpriseProject (emep) - an enterprise support agency with a RestaurantSupport Programme www.www.emep.co.uk or 020 7655 0906. FoodStandards Agency - agency set up to protect the public’s health andconsumer’s interest in relation to health. Website also containsimportant information and advice on importing foods.www.foodstandards.gov.uk or 020 7276 8000. Foodwise - A fundedproject that supports Food and Drink manufacturers across London.Contact Jenny Young at 0207 010 1542 or by email atjyoung@bl4london.com. Portabello Business Centre - provide adviceand support to start-up businesses and have expertise in therestaurant industry. They currently offer an evening course for thoseinterested in starting up a restaurant. www.pbc.co.uk/rest.htm or0207 460 5050. The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health -Provide environmental and health and safety training courses for thefood industry www.cieh.org or 020 7928 6006. TThhee FFoooodd CClluubb - a self-help initiative for companies in, or supplying, the food industry panLondon and the Home Counties at www.thefoodclub.org.uk or 0208868 0113. The Food Network Email List - exclusive email access tobuying, selling, advice, contacts and any other food relatedinformation you need. Register interest in being included on the list atjane@notjustfood.co.uk.

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