Formerly known as Juici Jerk, the UK’s New-Gen Caribbean food brand has announced an official rebrand as the company expects to see accelerated growth in the next two years. At the heart of the rebranding is a change of the company name to ‘Sweet Dee’s Jerk’ – a dedication to the Founders’ late father Derek Johnson who believed and supported the brand from inception.
Over the past few years, Sweet Dee’s Jerk has earned its reputation as a trusted, authentic and exciting brand offering a new age British-Caribbean taste, fusing flavours from London and Kingston, Jamaica. Whilst Caribbean food is moving closer to the mainstream, most independent or small restaurant groups remain London-centric with limited growth potential, however the transition to ‘Sweet Dee’s Jerk’ symbolises their mission to break the cycle and become the go-to Caribbean household brand.
The rebrand strategy includes a new name and logo design to reflect the new journey ahead for the business, an extended menu to highlight signature dishes and drink suppliers with its slushie concept, a refocus on its catering and corporate events, and refinement of its brand mission, values and vision.
Sweet Dee’s Jerk is a name carefully chosen by the family business in honour of their father who passed away, but it also represents the concept of Caribbean food being a celebration of life, family and culture. The new logo features bright and bold colours with warm, friendly icons to demonstrate their brand pillars of authenticity, innovation and community.
Earlier this year, Sweet Dee’s Jerk received a grant as part of The Uber Black Business Fund, recognised as an emerging Black-owned food business. Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic was catastrophic for most hospitality and retail businesses, it marked a significant milestone for Sweet Dee’s Jerk, as they seized the opportunity to innovate their product, which led to rolling out the UK’s first ever Caribbean cook-at-home meal kit service.
Following the launch of their meal kits, Sweet Dee’s customer reach expanded on a national scale and they saw a positive uplift on overall sales, as well as a surge of social media followers. In September 2021, Sweet Dee’s Jerk opened a quick-serve restaurant at Selfridges London and launched a dining residency at Soho House, White City. Their opening at Selfridges London went from being a two-week pop-up to a long-term concession.
The founders of Sweet Dee’s Jerk have an ambitious expansion strategy including plans to open their first bricks and mortar site by 2024.
Sweet Dee’s Jerk Co-Founder & Director, Troy Johnson says: “The rebranding exercise has been challenging and a lot of hard work was involved to ensure it reflects the company’s mission and values. We founded the business six years ago and since then we’ve achieved more than we expected, so we feel extremely proud. The quality of our products and customer service has improved, our reach and customer base has expanded, our offering has been adapted multiple times, and now we’re ready for the next stage of our growth and evolution of the brand.
“We are beginning talks to find an investor now. At the moment we are still fully self-funded and the business is completely owned by my brother and I, but we’ve realised that we’ve hit a ceiling now and in order to really grow where we want to on a national scale, we need a capital injection and some infrastructure from someone who has that experience.”
