February 19, 2025 • 30 mins
Discover the vibrant fusion of Caribbean and American culinary traditions with John Morris, the mastermind behind Joy's Island Spice, as he joins us to share his passion for Caribbean flavors inspired by his late mother, Joy. Listen as John unfolds his mission to elevate Caribbean cuisine to fine dining, transforming traditional jerk into a gourmet experience much like Italian cuisine's rise. Uncover the secrets behind their standout jerk barbecue sauce, a harmonious blend of Jamaican and American barbecue, and learn about the cultural nuances that distinguish English-speaking from Spanish-speaking Caribbean culinary traditions. Plus, John's story offers practical insights into using these versatile sauces and rubs with your favorite proteins, including tofu, pork, and more.
As Joy’s Island Spice evolves, so does its product line, introducing sophisticated non-alcoholic beverages like the Sorrel elixir. John reveals the strategic shifts required to meet changing consumer demands and the journey to featuring these elixirs in a Michelin-starred Manhattan restaurant. Join us as we reminisce about community events like the Rivervale Day chili cook-offs, a celebration of flavor, effort, and our shared love for local businesses. Remember to nominate your beloved local spots for our future episodes and help us continue to champion community spirit and support for neighborhood enterprises.
Joy's Island Spice
John Morris
(908) 224-6900
Contact@joysislandspice.com
joysislandspice.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group.
I am your host, doug Drohan,coming to.
You live from Harrington Park,new Jersey, which is just down
the road from where our guest,john Morris, resides.
John is the owner of Joy'sIsland Spice.
Welcome to the show, johnMorning Doug.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good to be here with you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, yeah, so you know full disclosure.
John and his wife were on thecover of Rivervale Neighbors
magazine maybe a year and a halfago, sitting in your
convertible One of my favoritecovers of all time.
I love showing that magazine topeople because it was a little
different and very cool, sowe've known each other.
(00:54):
I see you at the farmer'smarkets and town days and things
like that.
So tell us a little bit.
Obviously, you've got a variedbackground.
You wear a couple of hats, solet's talk about the name of
your company first Joy's IslandSpice, and where that came from.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Sure, well, joy was the name of my mom.
We lost her just shy of twoyears ago and she was a
fantastic woman, had threedistinct professional lives in
one lifetime, gave to everyonemuch more than she could ever
want to count.
(01:32):
She was a teacher, she was aneconomist and then, when she
retired, she went back to theuniversity and lectured lectured
in english.
She was a teacher ofmathematics originally oh wow,
beautiful lady um.
And she passed away and, uh,you know she was uh from the
islands, as I am originally, anduh, put those two together and
(01:54):
we have joy's island spice sowhen you say the islands, you
mean staten island or longisland actually jamaica king.
uh, western is in the Caribbean,yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Got it, got it, yeah, okay, so, um, so, hence the
name Joy's Island spice.
So what, what do you guys sell?
You sell spices.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So so we sell um primarily sauces, and we do do
some dry rubs.
The idea of Joy's Island Spicewas to bring Caribbean flavors
into the Epicurean milieu, bringit into more formal, higher-end
cuisine.
So, you know, similar toItalian cooking, where it
(02:37):
started out, largely mostItalian cooking originated as
peasant food and then over timeit got upgraded into fine
cuisine.
Caribbean food has not yet madethat full transition and Joy's
Island Spice is dedicated tohelp making that transition,
taking street foods, takingstreet flavors, peasant food and
(03:00):
flavors, bringing it into finecuisine.
So our flagship sauce is a jerkbarbecue sauce where we
essentially bring twoindependent but related culinary
traditions together.
One is Jamaican jerk, the otheris American barbecue, bring
those together to form anepicurean sauce.
(03:21):
That is fantastic.
It's very versatile.
Then we have some hot sauces,again focused on flavors more
than heat, and then, largely, wehave some dry rubs, again
focused on using those originalCaribbean flavors, reformulating
them for a wider audience, tohelp make what you eat every day
a little more exciting.
To help make what you eat everyday a little more exciting.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, and I want to get into how you cook with these
.
But before we do that, youmentioned that Caribbean.
You know the culinary arts ofCaribbean food hasn't really
been elevated.
But I guess there's adistinction between the
Caribbean and, say, puerto Rico,because back in the 90s Douglas
Rodriguez won the James BeardAward.
(04:05):
He's from Puerto Rico.
He opened Patria in the city,which I loved at the time and it
was somewhat groundbreaking.
I remember he had this greatdessert.
It was called the Cuban cigar.
It was this chocolate cigarwith matches that you could
light the matches but then youcould eat them, which was kind
of like Willy Wonka.
And so I guess there's adistinction between, say, puerto
(04:25):
Rican and Latin food and thenCaribbean.
There's Latin Caribbean andthen there's Caribbean.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
You're right, doug, there is A lot of.
The spices are the same becausegeography governs spices
generally, but language governsculture and the Spanish-speaking
Caribbean has a slightlydifferent history and culinary
history, if you will, than theEnglish-speaking Caribbean, so
(04:56):
they have different foods.
I mean, cuba is 90 miles offthe coast of Jamaica, but the
cuisines couldn't be moredifferent.
They're both beautiful, bothdelicious, couldn't be more
different.
So when I speak, when I saybringing Caribbean into the kind
of Epicurean marketplace, I'mspeaking more of the English
Caribbean and even after thatthere are a number of chefs from
(05:21):
the Caribbean who have madetheir tracks in the broader
market.
So what I'm doing is in no waydenigrating their, I'm building
on their shoulders, basically,and the idea there is to bring
it to a wider audience, not justthe culinary cognoscenti, if
you will.
A lot of folks you know theJames Beard will identify
(05:42):
brilliance within a culinarytradition, but that doesn't
necessarily mean that it makesit into the wider, the wider
audience.
So we're bringing, we're tryingto bring it to the wider
audience.
We want to hop the aisle fromthe, from the ethnic food, into
into food.
The Italians did basically movefrom that ethnic line, or the
(06:05):
goya line, into their own linein the supermarket, that's what
we're up nice.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So I've had your jerk barbecue sauce and it's great.
I just don't really know how tocook with it.
Do I put it on the foodbeforehand?
Do I put it on afterwards?
Do I do both is?
It, you know I barbecue me, youknow.
So you use it both ways andthen the drugs and the dry and
the kinds of meats.
I guess it's up to you.
It could be chicken, it couldbe beef, it could be pork, it
could be whatever right.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It goes on pretty much all proteins.
Originally, jerk was designedto go on pork, but it works on
chicken, it works on fish, itworks on tofu Just about any
protein it goes on.
It can be used as a marinade,it can be used as a condiment,
it can be used as a glaze.
(06:51):
It's very versatile in the wayyou can use it.
Essentially, think of it as anupgrade from ketchup.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Right, right, or a BP sauce if you live in England,
oh for sure exactly Anythingthat you would put that on.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
you could use it, and that's the first step, and then
you can find very creative waysof using it.
For example, if you sautéedsome asparagus, you could mix an
aioli with 50-50 mayo and orjerk barbecue sauce and it makes
the most amazing aioli.
You put it on any vegetable andyou think you're eating meat.
I mean, it's that delicious.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So I'm going to be a little Mark Cuban and Shark Tank
here, because I've seen you atthe farmer's markets and town
days and things like that andyou sell your spices, your rubs,
your college survival kits andthings like that and on your
website, but you don't haverecipes and you're not teaching
(07:47):
us how to use it and how to cookwith this.
So I think an extension andwe're going to talk about how
you've extended, verticallyexpanded and we're going to talk
about how you've extendedvertically expanded.
But I think one of the you knowif talking to a white guy from
Long Island who's, you know,exposure to jerk, was working in
(08:09):
restaurants in New York withactually Haitian cooks and then
going to Jamaica and it was like, oh I actually I like hot.
You know, I like the, the, theflavor of jerk sauce, jerk
chicken.
I'd love to see recipes.
I'd love to know how to use therubs and what kinds of.
You know, as we get into springand summertime, like how to use
this or what you know, if Ihave a you know, a son or
(08:29):
daughter going off to college,you know how would they use this
college survival kit and I lovethe fact that you have all
these different types of giftsets.
But going back, so your mom wasan economist, she was a
professor, and your training bytrade is not a culinary trade,
(08:51):
right, you are a finance guy.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, I'm also a trained economist and spent my
life on Wall Street, myprofessional life, on Wall
Street, in finance.
Yes, and you still do to thisday, today.
That's what I do.
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So where did you learn to create jerk barbecue
sauces and rubs?
Where did that come from?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I learned it, doug, from sitting at the ankles of my
dad.
You know he was a country boyin Jamaica, grew up in country,
grew up on a farm.
He was happiest when he was outwith his trees and plants, but
he was a banker in Jamaica andhe would make sauces.
That he learned from living onthe farm with his dad.
(09:35):
So in a sense it was passeddown by tradition and I learned
essentially from just watchinghim.
I grew up as a big foodie, abig Epicurean, and loved to go
to different restaurants,different cuisines, taste it,
recreate it.
So I have a love of food, loveof cooking, and learned by
(09:57):
observing my dad recreate saucesand spices from the freshest
foods and spices.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
That story is often repeated in a lot of restaurant
owners and chefs, where theywere heavily influenced by their
family, whether it was theirgrandmother or their mother or
their father in this case, whichis great, but all right.
So, listen, I like to cook.
I'm going to just say you'rewatching your dad and all this,
but you have a financebackground.
(10:27):
You're an economist, economicsmajor.
Where do you come up with theidea to say, okay, I can make
this stuff in my kitchen, I canmake it for my family, I can
make it for parties, but how doyou take that into Joy's Island
Spice, with the variety ofproducts that you sell, from
habanero hot sauce to mango?
(10:50):
Where do you get this?
Where do you make it?
Do you have co-packers?
Do you have a commercialkitchen?
And then, how did you bring itto market?
And I ask you these questionsbecause I like this show to be
about entrepreneurs and peoplewho took an idea and a passion
(11:11):
and turned it into a business.
And there's things for peopleto learn.
Like, okay, you have an onlineshop, but you're making food.
Like, where did this, you know,where do you get it done?
And how do you take that ideaof, oh, I like this.
I want it to be my little sidehustle, to now growing it, to
how you've grown it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So let's start with the inspiration.
It was born out of COVID.
At the time, mom still livedwith us.
She was elderly good goodhealth, but elderly and we were
very conservative when we sealedthe bubble for COVID, if you
will.
So we didn't go anywhere and Iwas going nuts and so as to keep
(11:53):
my sanity, I would travel toItaly, to a region in Italy, and
recreate pastas from thatregion, and that was just a way
of getting my creative juicesflowing but, more importantly,
challenging myself in a way thatI hadn't done before to stay
sane.
Within the confines of COVID,and we had some great neighbors,
three of whom are professionalchefs, and if you know
(12:15):
professional chefs, they don'tgloss stuff over, they give you
the truth, they're very ordinarysort, but what you see is what
you get, and I would createsomething, send it over to them
for them to critique it, and Iwanted a brutal critique and
oftentimes they were brutal andoftentimes they were encouraging
and being in the kitchenreconnected me to my dad making
(12:40):
sauces.
So I made the jerk barbecuesauce.
We formulated it, sent it overto the three and the three came
back and said wow, and if youknow, when a commercial chef on
his day off says, wow, you'vegot something.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is one of your neighbors, michael Morita, or is
he?
I know from River Valley heowns Rockin' Maritza.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Michael is one of my neighbors.
He is not one of the three thatI've met.
Funny, the amount ofprofessional chefs that live in
and around the neighborhood.
I love it.
So one of the chefs actuallysaid to me literally you need to
commercialize this.
And I hadn't thought ofcommercializing it before.
(13:20):
I was just, you know, playingin my kitchen and with that
impetus we decided to launch ourflagship sauce, which is a jerk
barbecue sauce, and we secureda commercial space.
You know they have these sharedkitchens that are commercial
spaces.
We started making it and if youhave a business, I didn't want
to have just the one product.
(13:41):
So we developed three more hotsauces, again focused more on
flavor rather than heat.
Most hot sauces focus on thatheat and essentially the idea
was to make what you eat everyday a little more exciting
without taking away from theessential nature of it.
Um, and then we did the dryrubs.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So we have six skews and there is a business there
and a business line, um, andthat's how, uh, joy's island
spice, the company was formedwhere do you, where do you
source your ingredients andwho's making it, and how do you
know about the health safetyguidelines and making sure that
nothing's?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
contaminated.
Exactly so we make it in acommercial space.
I still do the manufacturing,oversee the manufacturing, and I
studied and got all my healthlicenses to be able to produce
this.
So that, in and of itself, theknowledge that you gain from
just doing something completelynew, just from the health aspect
(14:43):
, the legal aspect, branding,sourcing, even just think, how
many times have you actuallygiven thought to how the fluid
dynamics of a sauce, how does asauce flow out of a bottle and
what does it look like when itsits on top of a?
Exactly right?
Well, that's design.
You know, when you tap on thebottom of a ketchup bottle,
(15:04):
that's design.
The viscosity can be controlled.
So all those aspects cometogether in formulating a
product that's going to appealto a certain identified market.
And all of that was new to me.
I had to learn all of that andyou could literally feel my
brain rewiring with all this newknowledge almost every day.
(15:25):
I had to learn an encyclopediaand it was exciting because the
more you learn, the more you yourealize you needed to to learn
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
and then there's um, I mean not only that part, but
then how do you manage the shelflife?
And I wanted to ask you,because I have a bottle of your
jerk barbecue sauce, how longdoes it last?
Because it's been in myrefrigerator for a while.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
It's inert, so it's indefinite.
Before opening, it's almostindefinite in the fridge.
How long does a bottle ofketchup last?
It's essentially the samelifestyle.
I actually leave it on mycounter, my lawyers tell me, and
it's put on the labelrefrigerator up or open.
I leave it on my counter and Iuse it.
It shouldn't last you that long, doug, you should be going
through it.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I should be using it.
I have to get some of theserecipes from you.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
The shelf life is tested by a laboratory, so you
have to learn how to do that.
Shelf life is tested by alaboratory, so you had to learn
how to do that.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You formulate it, you send it to the lab and they
give you an idea of the pH andthe shelf life and that's a
certification that you need toget for each product that you
put out in the public, and theyalso break down the nutritional
elements and how much fat,calories, sugars, okay.
Exactly elements that are inhow much fat, calories, sugars,
okay.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Exactly, and that's a necessary element on the
labeling, which is a whole otheryou know subspecialty that you
needed to learn.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, yeah, so you talked about going from, you
know, just the barbecue sauce tocreating a business.
Yes, so you are a.
Well, you were traditionally,you know, an island spice
business that branched out intolooking at a plant called
hibiscus or hibiscus andcreating some kind of a
(17:04):
non-alcoholic drink out of that.
So what is that?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That's now our leading product.
So we had to.
You know, as I said, we wedeveloped six skews for the
business island spice and it hadsome seasonality to it where
people barbecue less.
They just use less saucesduring the winter, which I think
they shouldn't.
You should braise short ribswith some of our sauces takes it
to another level.
(17:27):
But the reality is that demandthere's some seasonality to
demand so I wanted a product tocounteract the seasonality, to
smoothen out the profit profile,the income profile, revenue
profile of the business, and wecame up with the idea of
formulating a drink calledSorrel, which is essentially
(17:48):
made from the hibiscus plantnon-alcoholic elixir.
To target the fastest growingsegment of the beverage business
, which is a non-alcoholic orlow alcoholic segment.
We wanted to formulate acocktail that was delicious,
sessionable, non-alcoholic.
(18:09):
You go to a restaurant fordinner and you want something
that's non-alcoholic.
You want to have somethingthat's sophisticated.
You don't want a Shirley Templeand you don't want juice and
you don't want iced tea.
This falls right into thatcategory.
So a restaurant now has to havefour curated non-alcoholic
cocktails on their menu.
If not, they're leaving moneyon the table.
(18:31):
This was designed to fill intothat market segment and we've
gotten significant uptake by anumber of restaurants, including
a Michelin star restaurant inthe city that now has it on
their pairing menu.
So they have three drinks thatthey make with or elixir that
has a food pairing to go alongwith it.
(18:53):
Very exciting stuff.
So a year ago we were a sauceand spice business that launched
a new beverage line.
A year later we are a beveragecompany that has a sauce and
spice line.
The growth has been thatphenomenal and we're that
excited about it.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So you're I mean that is exciting, and you're
primarily or entirely soldonline, right?
You're not stocked in retailanywhere.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
No, we actually are in retail.
We're in a number of.
We're in ShopRite Liquors inNorthvale, for example, locally.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Oh nice.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Okay, that's our first foray into retail, but
primarily we aredirect-to-business or
direct-to-consumer, both on ourwebsite, joysislandspicecom, and
we deliver to our neighboringtowns for free.
That's something we've alwaysdone from day one.
If you order one bottle ofsauce, we deliver it to you for
(19:48):
free.
We've gotten tremendous supportfrom our neighbors.
We love to do, as you mentionedearlier, the fairs in
Harrington Park, and where weinteract with our neighbors, get
feedback immediately, and Iremember the first time we
brought Sorrel out to thefarmer's market I had to go back
(20:08):
home and get more cases.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
We sold out the first day.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
So we do it in the farmer's market, we do it
directly on our websitejoysislandspicecom, we're on
Amazon, we're on Etsy fordirect-to-consumer or we do
directly to restaurants.
Primarily, that's been asignificant growth segment for
us.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
That's great.
So you mentioned there's aMichelin-star restaurant in
Manhattan that covers it.
So I don't know.
The mixologists are no longerbartenders.
The mixologists I was abartender.
I just pulled pints in Englandand mixed easy drinks, so I'm a
mixologist.
But certainly and there's alsoa trend with younger people
today that are goingnon-alcoholic I forget what
(20:49):
you're calling the trend it'stroubling to the alcohol
industry.
When I was in my 20s, youwanted a drink, but now they
don't want alcohol, and so Icould see how this is filling
that niche.
But how did the restaurantsfind out about you?
I'm imagining mixologists arealways looking for some kind of
(21:13):
elixir or some kind of mixingand maybe, depending on where
they're from, from, they knewhibiscus has been around a long
time, centuries in fact and Iknow if you go to a mexican
restaurant, they might have anumber of agua frescas that have
, uh, that on the menu, but it'snormally you drink it like a
soda, almost right, um, so wheredid like?
Where did, or how did therestaurant world in new york
(21:36):
city find you?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
funny, doug.
Um, they found it because I'm afoodie, so I would go to
restaurants.
Well, it actually started outwith local restaurants in New
Jersey.
We got a tremendous start fromthat and support from that.
Can you name a few?
Sure, there's Mercato RomanPizza.
Oh, I love that place.
That's my favorite pizza.
Beautiful, they were our numberone supporter, or first
(22:01):
supporter.
They focus on the freshestingredients to make just the
best of whatever they make, andthey're opening in Westwood.
Now they're moving to Westwood.
They are exactly yes,congratulations to them but a
fine space, a space that focuseson quality ingredients.
They have a very small barselection, but they tasted over
(22:26):
Sorrel and fell in love with itimmediately and it became one of
their number one sellingbeverages.
It turns out that the personwho used to work there was
herself a mixologist and whenshe tasted it she realized the
potential for customizingflavors.
(22:48):
So you took a regular margarita,which is usually a good selling
beverage in the restaurantbusiness.
You add sorrel to it and youcreate a sorrel margarita.
It became their number oneselling item.
You add sorrel to it and youcreate a sorrel margarita.
It became their number oneselling item.
From that we from or start withMercato, we went to Cantina,
which is another fantastic placeIn Sparkle.
(23:10):
In Sparkle, very innovativecuisine with equally innovative
cocktails to match it.
Cocktails to match it.
They tasted Orsoril andimmediately fell in love with it
and created a number of drinkswith it.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
So we've had essentially that's Chris calling
you right now.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Exactly right.
What we do, what I used to do,is go to restaurants where I
identified that they had amixologist, not a bartender.
A bartender can pour you.
You know, roman Coke right,they can't build you a good
Guinness.
It takes time.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I always know the kind of bar I'm at when I get a
Guinness in like 10 seconds.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I'm like exactly right, you know you have to
build a good one.
Right, but a mixologist is onewho focuses on creating
innovative cocktails, and I'm afoodie, so I go to a lot of
restaurants and I will observeto see if there is a bartender
or mixologist.
If there's a mixologist, I givethem a bottle as a sample.
Two weeks later we'll get anorder.
(24:12):
No, the interesting thing isthat we are in a number of
restaurants in the city, thefirst foray of which was I met
one of the partners at Mercatoand he had one of our beverages
there.
Fast forward, a few monthslater, we're in three locations
in their restaurant in the city.
(24:33):
So you know, mercato is thisplace where not only do you get
just amazing food but theneighborhood friendships and
it's just a magical place and anumber of events have been very
good to us and we're there youknow, that's our chairs on a
Friday evening, we put on a pairof comfy loafers and jeans and
(24:53):
go and have just amazing foodwith amazing people and just
completely detox.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
That's it pick your brain after the show because, um
, I was just saying that, havingbeen somebody who used to go to
patria and be an expenseaccount, I worked in the
entertainment industry I wasalways going to like newer and
hipper restaurants gramps tavernwhen it first opened in square
cafe I mean, we're going back tothe 90s again, but new jersey,
I find that there is not thatmuch of an exciting food scene.
(25:21):
All the Italian restaurants arebasically the same.
You cross the border.
You cross the border into NewYork and, and you know, roost.
I mean I'm going to name acouple of shameless plugs for
companies that advertise with me.
Heaven, or you know, when it wasum joe with divine bar, you
know.
Or it's uh, you know, um, it'suh, lani's and vittorio, and in
(25:43):
piermont, you know his tworestaurants.
Uh, you know, there's a littlebit of a different dining
experience, but that culinarywow factor like going to bazaar,
you know jose andres and uh,whatever.
I mean that.
You know I'm not saying we need, uh, molecular gastronomy, but
I just feel like there's it'skind of lazy, a lot of the the
(26:06):
way the food's presented to usand they could charge 40 or
whatever.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
So I'm always off to pick your brain afterwards you
know, there's nothing I Idislike more than going to a
restaurant, paying a lot ofmoney and not coming away with a
wow, I can make homemade foodat home, right.
When I go to a restaurant, Iwant to see some creativity, I
want to see some wow, I want toget stimulated myself creatively
(26:30):
.
And, you're right, a lot oflocal restaurants are good, but
they're okay and I don't need topay a premium for okay, you
know, and you know, I, I don'tneed to pay a premium for okay,
you know.
Okay, it's fine If that's whatyou want for a lunch or
something, but when I go out, Iwant to have that wow factor.
I want to get my socks blownoff, you know.
Yeah, and I will find thosechefs, I'll find the mixologists
(26:52):
that compliment those chefs andthose establishments.
I will patronize them andhopefully they will, uh, they
will also uh, find um, uh, joysto be, um, to be creative.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
That will will inspire their creativity as well
yeah, I know, back in maybe theearly 2000s, when the um, like
the small plate kind of uh trendwas happening where restaurants
realized they could charge 15,20 per an appetizer and get you
to order 10 of them.
Right, but uh, stanton socialwas a really cool place.
I don't know if they went downon the lower east side,
freeman's uh, freeman's alleyyou know that was.
(27:26):
It was just a different kindand maybe new york had something
to do with it, but maybe I'mjust a snob.
Uh, but there was definitely.
It felt like, okay, this was,this was an experience.
But you know, john, we wererunning out of time.
I think we'll have to doanother one of these shows and I
want to talk to you when we'redone about some ideas I have.
But do you ever envision whenyou know I don't want your hedge
(27:47):
fund bosses to hear this but doyou ever envision a time where
you're going to say you knowwhat my joys, you know spice, my
beverage business is doing?
I can't do this part-time.
For me to scale, I've got tojust quit my day job.
Do you envision a day when thatmight happen?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Clearly.
I clearly do, and my old bosseswould be naive if they think I
didn't.
However, one of the good thingsis that Joy's has now become a
family business.
It's not just my business.
My wife is involved, my kidsare involved, and that allows, I
(28:30):
mean.
I always like to joke that mywife gets to do all the work and
I get to do all the fun stuff.
So she does the sourcing, shedoes everything and you know
that allows a lot of bandwidth.
We're not at the point where Ican leave my day job yet, if you
will, and I still love my dayjob, but this is a passion
project that became a business.
That's a growing business andat some point would I see myself
(28:51):
retiring and doing this fulltime, absolutely.
And the friendships that youform with the creative types in
this business phenomenal, it'slike pure oxygen.
So I really enjoy it.
I enjoy the growth andhopefully we get to the point
one day, Doug, where I can say,hey, this can support us.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, so I realize it was a year ago, february 2024,
when you were on the cover ofRivervale Neighbors and I'd
imagine when you are doing thoselocal deliveries of your spices
, you're driving around in yourred convertible.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (29:23):
As long as the weather is good, I'll take her
out.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
There you go, and what?
Speaker 3 (29:26):
kind of car is it?
It's a 1970 GTO.
Oh nice, yes.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, that's great, that's great.
So this was great.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Just real quick again , just where do people find you,
your website?
Um, obviously do you want togive us that info.
Yeah, sure, it's joy's islandspice.
J-o-y-s island spice.
com.
Remember that we deliverlocally.
Uh, we love our neighbors.
We love our support that we getfrom our neighbors, the
encouragement we've gotten forour neighbors and the
relationships that we havefostered with people falling in
love with our.
So we're a local company doinggood, punching above our weight
(30:01):
and winning internationalbeverage awards and
international salsa awardswithin our first year for the
beverages and first two yearsfor the sauces.
So punching way above ourweight and having fun doing it.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I think you won the chili cook-off at Rivervale Day
a couple of years ago too.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yes, yes, yes, we did I was a judge last year.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, you weren't participating, it was okay.
No disrespect to the people whowon, but it was Anyway.
So let's, we're going to justlet Chuck take us out and you
and I will be right back.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Sounds good.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergencom.
That's gnpbergencom, or call201-298-8325.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group.
I am your host, doug Drohan,coming to.
You live from Harrington Park,new Jersey, which is just down
the road from where our guest,john Morris, resides.
John is the owner of Joy'sIsland Spice.
Welcome to the show, johnMorning Doug.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good to be here with you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, yeah, so you know full disclosure.
John and his wife were on thecover of Rivervale Neighbors
magazine maybe a year and a halfago, sitting in your
convertible One of my favoritecovers of all time.
I love showing that magazine topeople because it was a little
different and very cool, sowe've known each other.
(00:54):
I see you at the farmer'smarkets and town days and things
like that.
So tell us a little bit.
Obviously, you've got a variedbackground.
You wear a couple of hats, solet's talk about the name of
your company first Joy's IslandSpice, and where that came from.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Sure, well, joy was the name of my mom.
We lost her just shy of twoyears ago and she was a
fantastic woman, had threedistinct professional lives in
one lifetime, gave to everyonemuch more than she could ever
want to count.
(01:32):
She was a teacher, she was aneconomist and then, when she
retired, she went back to theuniversity and lectured lectured
in english.
She was a teacher ofmathematics originally oh wow,
beautiful lady um.
And she passed away and, uh,you know she was uh from the
islands, as I am originally, anduh, put those two together and
(01:54):
we have joy's island spice sowhen you say the islands, you
mean staten island or longisland actually jamaica king.
uh, western is in the Caribbean,yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Got it, got it, yeah, okay, so, um, so, hence the
name Joy's Island spice.
So what, what do you guys sell?
You sell spices.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So so we sell um primarily sauces, and we do do
some dry rubs.
The idea of Joy's Island Spicewas to bring Caribbean flavors
into the Epicurean milieu, bringit into more formal, higher-end
cuisine.
So, you know, similar toItalian cooking, where it
(02:37):
started out, largely mostItalian cooking originated as
peasant food and then over timeit got upgraded into fine
cuisine.
Caribbean food has not yet madethat full transition and Joy's
Island Spice is dedicated tohelp making that transition,
taking street foods, takingstreet flavors, peasant food and
(03:00):
flavors, bringing it into finecuisine.
So our flagship sauce is a jerkbarbecue sauce where we
essentially bring twoindependent but related culinary
traditions together.
One is Jamaican jerk, the otheris American barbecue, bring
those together to form anepicurean sauce.
(03:21):
That is fantastic.
It's very versatile.
Then we have some hot sauces,again focused on flavors more
than heat, and then, largely, wehave some dry rubs, again
focused on using those originalCaribbean flavors, reformulating
them for a wider audience, tohelp make what you eat every day
a little more exciting.
To help make what you eat everyday a little more exciting.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, and I want to get into how you cook with these
.
But before we do that, youmentioned that Caribbean.
You know the culinary arts ofCaribbean food hasn't really
been elevated.
But I guess there's adistinction between the
Caribbean and, say, puerto Rico,because back in the 90s Douglas
Rodriguez won the James BeardAward.
(04:05):
He's from Puerto Rico.
He opened Patria in the city,which I loved at the time and it
was somewhat groundbreaking.
I remember he had this greatdessert.
It was called the Cuban cigar.
It was this chocolate cigarwith matches that you could
light the matches but then youcould eat them, which was kind
of like Willy Wonka.
And so I guess there's adistinction between, say, puerto
(04:25):
Rican and Latin food and thenCaribbean.
There's Latin Caribbean andthen there's Caribbean.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
You're right, doug, there is A lot of.
The spices are the same becausegeography governs spices
generally, but language governsculture and the Spanish-speaking
Caribbean has a slightlydifferent history and culinary
history, if you will, than theEnglish-speaking Caribbean, so
(04:56):
they have different foods.
I mean, cuba is 90 miles offthe coast of Jamaica, but the
cuisines couldn't be moredifferent.
They're both beautiful, bothdelicious, couldn't be more
different.
So when I speak, when I saybringing Caribbean into the kind
of Epicurean marketplace, I'mspeaking more of the English
Caribbean and even after thatthere are a number of chefs from
(05:21):
the Caribbean who have madetheir tracks in the broader
market.
So what I'm doing is in no waydenigrating their, I'm building
on their shoulders, basically,and the idea there is to bring
it to a wider audience, not justthe culinary cognoscenti, if
you will.
A lot of folks you know theJames Beard will identify
(05:42):
brilliance within a culinarytradition, but that doesn't
necessarily mean that it makesit into the wider, the wider
audience.
So we're bringing, we're tryingto bring it to the wider
audience.
We want to hop the aisle fromthe, from the ethnic food, into
into food.
The Italians did basically movefrom that ethnic line, or the
(06:05):
goya line, into their own linein the supermarket, that's what
we're up nice.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
So I've had your jerk barbecue sauce and it's great.
I just don't really know how tocook with it.
Do I put it on the foodbeforehand?
Do I put it on afterwards?
Do I do both is?
It, you know I barbecue me, youknow.
So you use it both ways andthen the drugs and the dry and
the kinds of meats.
I guess it's up to you.
It could be chicken, it couldbe beef, it could be pork, it
could be whatever right.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
It goes on pretty much all proteins.
Originally, jerk was designedto go on pork, but it works on
chicken, it works on fish, itworks on tofu Just about any
protein it goes on.
It can be used as a marinade,it can be used as a condiment,
it can be used as a glaze.
(06:51):
It's very versatile in the wayyou can use it.
Essentially, think of it as anupgrade from ketchup.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Right, right, or a BP sauce if you live in England,
oh for sure exactly Anythingthat you would put that on.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
you could use it, and that's the first step, and then
you can find very creative waysof using it.
For example, if you sautéedsome asparagus, you could mix an
aioli with 50-50 mayo and orjerk barbecue sauce and it makes
the most amazing aioli.
You put it on any vegetable andyou think you're eating meat.
I mean, it's that delicious.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So I'm going to be a little Mark Cuban and Shark Tank
here, because I've seen you atthe farmer's markets and town
days and things like that andyou sell your spices, your rubs,
your college survival kits andthings like that and on your
website, but you don't haverecipes and you're not teaching
(07:47):
us how to use it and how to cookwith this.
So I think an extension andwe're going to talk about how
you've extended, verticallyexpanded and we're going to talk
about how you've extendedvertically expanded.
But I think one of the you knowif talking to a white guy from
Long Island who's, you know,exposure to jerk, was working in
(08:09):
restaurants in New York withactually Haitian cooks and then
going to Jamaica and it was like, oh I actually I like hot.
You know, I like the, the, theflavor of jerk sauce, jerk
chicken.
I'd love to see recipes.
I'd love to know how to use therubs and what kinds of.
You know, as we get into springand summertime, like how to use
this or what you know, if Ihave a you know, a son or
(08:29):
daughter going off to college,you know how would they use this
college survival kit and I lovethe fact that you have all
these different types of giftsets.
But going back, so your mom wasan economist, she was a
professor, and your training bytrade is not a culinary trade,
(08:51):
right, you are a finance guy.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, I'm also a trained economist and spent my
life on Wall Street, myprofessional life, on Wall
Street, in finance.
Yes, and you still do to thisday, today.
That's what I do.
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So where did you learn to create jerk barbecue
sauces and rubs?
Where did that come from?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
I learned it, doug, from sitting at the ankles of my
dad.
You know he was a country boyin Jamaica, grew up in country,
grew up on a farm.
He was happiest when he was outwith his trees and plants, but
he was a banker in Jamaica andhe would make sauces.
That he learned from living onthe farm with his dad.
(09:35):
So in a sense it was passeddown by tradition and I learned
essentially from just watchinghim.
I grew up as a big foodie, abig Epicurean, and loved to go
to different restaurants,different cuisines, taste it,
recreate it.
So I have a love of food, loveof cooking, and learned by
(09:57):
observing my dad recreate saucesand spices from the freshest
foods and spices.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
That story is often repeated in a lot of restaurant
owners and chefs, where theywere heavily influenced by their
family, whether it was theirgrandmother or their mother or
their father in this case, whichis great, but all right.
So, listen, I like to cook.
I'm going to just say you'rewatching your dad and all this,
but you have a financebackground.
(10:27):
You're an economist, economicsmajor.
Where do you come up with theidea to say, okay, I can make
this stuff in my kitchen, I canmake it for my family, I can
make it for parties, but how doyou take that into Joy's Island
Spice, with the variety ofproducts that you sell, from
habanero hot sauce to mango?
(10:50):
Where do you get this?
Where do you make it?
Do you have co-packers?
Do you have a commercialkitchen?
And then, how did you bring itto market?
And I ask you these questionsbecause I like this show to be
about entrepreneurs and peoplewho took an idea and a passion
(11:11):
and turned it into a business.
And there's things for peopleto learn.
Like, okay, you have an onlineshop, but you're making food.
Like, where did this, you know,where do you get it done?
And how do you take that ideaof, oh, I like this.
I want it to be my little sidehustle, to now growing it, to
how you've grown it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
So let's start with the inspiration.
It was born out of COVID.
At the time, mom still livedwith us.
She was elderly good goodhealth, but elderly and we were
very conservative when we sealedthe bubble for COVID, if you
will.
So we didn't go anywhere and Iwas going nuts and so as to keep
(11:53):
my sanity, I would travel toItaly, to a region in Italy, and
recreate pastas from thatregion, and that was just a way
of getting my creative juicesflowing but, more importantly,
challenging myself in a way thatI hadn't done before to stay
sane.
Within the confines of COVID,and we had some great neighbors,
three of whom are professionalchefs, and if you know
(12:15):
professional chefs, they don'tgloss stuff over, they give you
the truth, they're very ordinarysort, but what you see is what
you get, and I would createsomething, send it over to them
for them to critique it, and Iwanted a brutal critique and
oftentimes they were brutal andoftentimes they were encouraging
and being in the kitchenreconnected me to my dad making
(12:40):
sauces.
So I made the jerk barbecuesauce.
We formulated it, sent it overto the three and the three came
back and said wow, and if youknow, when a commercial chef on
his day off says, wow, you'vegot something.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Is one of your neighbors, michael Morita, or is
he?
I know from River Valley heowns Rockin' Maritza.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Michael is one of my neighbors.
He is not one of the three thatI've met.
Funny, the amount ofprofessional chefs that live in
and around the neighborhood.
I love it.
So one of the chefs actuallysaid to me literally you need to
commercialize this.
And I hadn't thought ofcommercializing it before.
(13:20):
I was just, you know, playingin my kitchen and with that
impetus we decided to launch ourflagship sauce, which is a jerk
barbecue sauce, and we secureda commercial space.
You know they have these sharedkitchens that are commercial
spaces.
We started making it and if youhave a business, I didn't want
to have just the one product.
(13:41):
So we developed three more hotsauces, again focused more on
flavor rather than heat.
Most hot sauces focus on thatheat and essentially the idea
was to make what you eat everyday a little more exciting
without taking away from theessential nature of it.
Um, and then we did the dryrubs.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So we have six skews and there is a business there
and a business line, um, andthat's how, uh, joy's island
spice, the company was formedwhere do you, where do you
source your ingredients andwho's making it, and how do you
know about the health safetyguidelines and making sure that
nothing's?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
contaminated.
Exactly so we make it in acommercial space.
I still do the manufacturing,oversee the manufacturing, and I
studied and got all my healthlicenses to be able to produce
this.
So that, in and of itself, theknowledge that you gain from
just doing something completelynew, just from the health aspect
(14:43):
, the legal aspect, branding,sourcing, even just think, how
many times have you actuallygiven thought to how the fluid
dynamics of a sauce, how does asauce flow out of a bottle and
what does it look like when itsits on top of a?
Exactly right?
Well, that's design.
You know, when you tap on thebottom of a ketchup bottle,
(15:04):
that's design.
The viscosity can be controlled.
So all those aspects cometogether in formulating a
product that's going to appealto a certain identified market.
And all of that was new to me.
I had to learn all of that andyou could literally feel my
brain rewiring with all this newknowledge almost every day.
(15:25):
I had to learn an encyclopediaand it was exciting because the
more you learn, the more you yourealize you needed to to learn
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
and then there's um, I mean not only that part, but
then how do you manage the shelflife?
And I wanted to ask you,because I have a bottle of your
jerk barbecue sauce, how longdoes it last?
Because it's been in myrefrigerator for a while.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
It's inert, so it's indefinite.
Before opening, it's almostindefinite in the fridge.
How long does a bottle ofketchup last?
It's essentially the samelifestyle.
I actually leave it on mycounter, my lawyers tell me, and
it's put on the labelrefrigerator up or open.
I leave it on my counter and Iuse it.
It shouldn't last you that long, doug, you should be going
through it.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I should be using it.
I have to get some of theserecipes from you.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
The shelf life is tested by a laboratory, so you
have to learn how to do that.
Shelf life is tested by alaboratory, so you had to learn
how to do that.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You formulate it, you send it to the lab and they
give you an idea of the pH andthe shelf life and that's a
certification that you need toget for each product that you
put out in the public, and theyalso break down the nutritional
elements and how much fat,calories, sugars, okay.
Exactly elements that are inhow much fat, calories, sugars,
okay.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Exactly, and that's a necessary element on the
labeling, which is a whole otheryou know subspecialty that you
needed to learn.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, yeah, so you talked about going from, you
know, just the barbecue sauce tocreating a business.
Yes, so you are a.
Well, you were traditionally,you know, an island spice
business that branched out intolooking at a plant called
hibiscus or hibiscus andcreating some kind of a
(17:04):
non-alcoholic drink out of that.
So what is that?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That's now our leading product.
So we had to.
You know, as I said, we wedeveloped six skews for the
business island spice and it hadsome seasonality to it where
people barbecue less.
They just use less saucesduring the winter, which I think
they shouldn't.
You should braise short ribswith some of our sauces takes it
to another level.
(17:27):
But the reality is that demandthere's some seasonality to
demand so I wanted a product tocounteract the seasonality, to
smoothen out the profit profile,the income profile, revenue
profile of the business, and wecame up with the idea of
formulating a drink calledSorrel, which is essentially
(17:48):
made from the hibiscus plantnon-alcoholic elixir.
To target the fastest growingsegment of the beverage business
, which is a non-alcoholic orlow alcoholic segment.
We wanted to formulate acocktail that was delicious,
sessionable, non-alcoholic.
(18:09):
You go to a restaurant fordinner and you want something
that's non-alcoholic.
You want to have somethingthat's sophisticated.
You don't want a Shirley Templeand you don't want juice and
you don't want iced tea.
This falls right into thatcategory.
So a restaurant now has to havefour curated non-alcoholic
cocktails on their menu.
If not, they're leaving moneyon the table.
(18:31):
This was designed to fill intothat market segment and we've
gotten significant uptake by anumber of restaurants, including
a Michelin star restaurant inthe city that now has it on
their pairing menu.
So they have three drinks thatthey make with or elixir that
has a food pairing to go alongwith it.
(18:53):
Very exciting stuff.
So a year ago we were a sauceand spice business that launched
a new beverage line.
A year later we are a beveragecompany that has a sauce and
spice line.
The growth has been thatphenomenal and we're that
excited about it.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
So you're I mean that is exciting, and you're
primarily or entirely soldonline, right?
You're not stocked in retailanywhere.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
No, we actually are in retail.
We're in a number of.
We're in ShopRite Liquors inNorthvale, for example, locally.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Oh nice.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
Okay, that's our first foray into retail, but
primarily we aredirect-to-business or
direct-to-consumer, both on ourwebsite, joysislandspicecom, and
we deliver to our neighboringtowns for free.
That's something we've alwaysdone from day one.
If you order one bottle ofsauce, we deliver it to you for
(19:48):
free.
We've gotten tremendous supportfrom our neighbors.
We love to do, as you mentionedearlier, the fairs in
Harrington Park, and where weinteract with our neighbors, get
feedback immediately, and Iremember the first time we
brought Sorrel out to thefarmer's market I had to go back
(20:08):
home and get more cases.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
We sold out the first day.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
So we do it in the farmer's market, we do it
directly on our websitejoysislandspicecom, we're on
Amazon, we're on Etsy fordirect-to-consumer or we do
directly to restaurants.
Primarily, that's been asignificant growth segment for
us.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
That's great.
So you mentioned there's aMichelin-star restaurant in
Manhattan that covers it.
So I don't know.
The mixologists are no longerbartenders.
The mixologists I was abartender.
I just pulled pints in Englandand mixed easy drinks, so I'm a
mixologist.
But certainly and there's alsoa trend with younger people
today that are goingnon-alcoholic I forget what
(20:49):
you're calling the trend it'stroubling to the alcohol
industry.
When I was in my 20s, youwanted a drink, but now they
don't want alcohol, and so Icould see how this is filling
that niche.
But how did the restaurantsfind out about you?
I'm imagining mixologists arealways looking for some kind of
(21:13):
elixir or some kind of mixingand maybe, depending on where
they're from, from, they knewhibiscus has been around a long
time, centuries in fact and Iknow if you go to a mexican
restaurant, they might have anumber of agua frescas that have
, uh, that on the menu, but it'snormally you drink it like a
soda, almost right, um, so wheredid like?
Where did, or how did therestaurant world in new york
(21:36):
city find you?
Speaker 3 (21:38):
funny, doug.
Um, they found it because I'm afoodie, so I would go to
restaurants.
Well, it actually started outwith local restaurants in New
Jersey.
We got a tremendous start fromthat and support from that.
Can you name a few?
Sure, there's Mercato RomanPizza.
Oh, I love that place.
That's my favorite pizza.
Beautiful, they were our numberone supporter, or first
(22:01):
supporter.
They focus on the freshestingredients to make just the
best of whatever they make, andthey're opening in Westwood.
Now they're moving to Westwood.
They are exactly yes,congratulations to them but a
fine space, a space that focuseson quality ingredients.
They have a very small barselection, but they tasted over
(22:26):
Sorrel and fell in love with itimmediately and it became one of
their number one sellingbeverages.
It turns out that the personwho used to work there was
herself a mixologist and whenshe tasted it she realized the
potential for customizingflavors.
(22:48):
So you took a regular margarita,which is usually a good selling
beverage in the restaurantbusiness.
You add sorrel to it and youcreate a sorrel margarita.
It became their number oneselling item.
You add sorrel to it and youcreate a sorrel margarita.
It became their number oneselling item.
From that we from or start withMercato, we went to Cantina,
which is another fantastic placeIn Sparkle.
(23:10):
In Sparkle, very innovativecuisine with equally innovative
cocktails to match it.
Cocktails to match it.
They tasted Orsoril andimmediately fell in love with it
and created a number of drinkswith it.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
So we've had essentially that's Chris calling
you right now.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
Exactly right.
What we do, what I used to do,is go to restaurants where I
identified that they had amixologist, not a bartender.
A bartender can pour you.
You know, roman Coke right,they can't build you a good
Guinness.
It takes time.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I always know the kind of bar I'm at when I get a
Guinness in like 10 seconds.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I'm like exactly right, you know you have to
build a good one.
Right, but a mixologist is onewho focuses on creating
innovative cocktails, and I'm afoodie, so I go to a lot of
restaurants and I will observeto see if there is a bartender
or mixologist.
If there's a mixologist, I givethem a bottle as a sample.
Two weeks later we'll get anorder.
(24:12):
No, the interesting thing isthat we are in a number of
restaurants in the city, thefirst foray of which was I met
one of the partners at Mercatoand he had one of our beverages
there.
Fast forward, a few monthslater, we're in three locations
in their restaurant in the city.
(24:33):
So you know, mercato is thisplace where not only do you get
just amazing food but theneighborhood friendships and
it's just a magical place and anumber of events have been very
good to us and we're there youknow, that's our chairs on a
Friday evening, we put on a pairof comfy loafers and jeans and
(24:53):
go and have just amazing foodwith amazing people and just
completely detox.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
That's it pick your brain after the show because, um
, I was just saying that, havingbeen somebody who used to go to
patria and be an expenseaccount, I worked in the
entertainment industry I wasalways going to like newer and
hipper restaurants gramps tavernwhen it first opened in square
cafe I mean, we're going back tothe 90s again, but new jersey,
I find that there is not thatmuch of an exciting food scene.
(25:21):
All the Italian restaurants arebasically the same.
You cross the border.
You cross the border into NewYork and, and you know, roost.
I mean I'm going to name acouple of shameless plugs for
companies that advertise with me.
Heaven, or you know, when it wasum joe with divine bar, you
know.
Or it's uh, you know, um, it'suh, lani's and vittorio, and in
(25:43):
piermont, you know his tworestaurants.
Uh, you know, there's a littlebit of a different dining
experience, but that culinarywow factor like going to bazaar,
you know jose andres and uh,whatever.
I mean that.
You know I'm not saying we need, uh, molecular gastronomy, but
I just feel like there's it'skind of lazy, a lot of the the
(26:06):
way the food's presented to usand they could charge 40 or
whatever.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
So I'm always off to pick your brain afterwards you
know, there's nothing I Idislike more than going to a
restaurant, paying a lot ofmoney and not coming away with a
wow, I can make homemade foodat home, right.
When I go to a restaurant, Iwant to see some creativity, I
want to see some wow, I want toget stimulated myself creatively
(26:30):
.
And, you're right, a lot oflocal restaurants are good, but
they're okay and I don't need topay a premium for okay, you
know, and you know, I, I don'tneed to pay a premium for okay,
you know.
Okay, it's fine If that's whatyou want for a lunch or
something, but when I go out, Iwant to have that wow factor.
I want to get my socks blownoff, you know.
Yeah, and I will find thosechefs, I'll find the mixologists
(26:52):
that compliment those chefs andthose establishments.
I will patronize them andhopefully they will, uh, they
will also uh, find um, uh, joysto be, um, to be creative.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
That will will inspire their creativity as well
yeah, I know, back in maybe theearly 2000s, when the um, like
the small plate kind of uh trendwas happening where restaurants
realized they could charge 15,20 per an appetizer and get you
to order 10 of them.
Right, but uh, stanton socialwas a really cool place.
I don't know if they went downon the lower east side,
freeman's uh, freeman's alleyyou know that was.
(27:26):
It was just a different kindand maybe new york had something
to do with it, but maybe I'mjust a snob.
Uh, but there was definitely.
It felt like, okay, this was,this was an experience.
But you know, john, we wererunning out of time.
I think we'll have to doanother one of these shows and I
want to talk to you when we'redone about some ideas I have.
But do you ever envision whenyou know I don't want your hedge
(27:47):
fund bosses to hear this but doyou ever envision a time where
you're going to say you knowwhat my joys, you know spice, my
beverage business is doing?
I can't do this part-time.
For me to scale, I've got tojust quit my day job.
Do you envision a day when thatmight happen?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Clearly.
I clearly do, and my old bosseswould be naive if they think I
didn't.
However, one of the good thingsis that Joy's has now become a
family business.
It's not just my business.
My wife is involved, my kidsare involved, and that allows, I
(28:30):
mean.
I always like to joke that mywife gets to do all the work and
I get to do all the fun stuff.
So she does the sourcing, shedoes everything and you know
that allows a lot of bandwidth.
We're not at the point where Ican leave my day job yet, if you
will, and I still love my dayjob, but this is a passion
project that became a business.
That's a growing business andat some point would I see myself
(28:51):
retiring and doing this fulltime, absolutely.
And the friendships that youform with the creative types in
this business phenomenal, it'slike pure oxygen.
So I really enjoy it.
I enjoy the growth andhopefully we get to the point
one day, Doug, where I can say,hey, this can support us.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Yeah, so I realize it was a year ago, february 2024,
when you were on the cover ofRivervale Neighbors and I'd
imagine when you are doing thoselocal deliveries of your spices
, you're driving around in yourred convertible.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (29:23):
As long as the weather is good, I'll take her
out.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
There you go, and what?
Speaker 3 (29:26):
kind of car is it?
It's a 1970 GTO.
Oh nice, yes.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, that's great, that's great.
So this was great.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Just real quick again , just where do people find you,
your website?
Um, obviously do you want togive us that info.
Yeah, sure, it's joy's islandspice.
J-o-y-s island spice.
com.
Remember that we deliverlocally.
Uh, we love our neighbors.
We love our support that we getfrom our neighbors, the
encouragement we've gotten forour neighbors and the
relationships that we havefostered with people falling in
love with our.
So we're a local company doinggood, punching above our weight
(30:01):
and winning internationalbeverage awards and
international salsa awardswithin our first year for the
beverages and first two yearsfor the sauces.
So punching way above ourweight and having fun doing it.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
I think you won the chili cook-off at Rivervale Day
a couple of years ago too.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yes, yes, yes, we did I was a judge last year.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Yeah, you weren't participating, it was okay.
No disrespect to the people whowon, but it was Anyway.
So let's, we're going to justlet Chuck take us out and you
and I will be right back.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Sounds good.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergencom.
That's gnpbergencom, or call201-298-8325.
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