We were lucky to catch up with Kadeen Goldcamp recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kadeen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

When my husband Daniel and I met it was right in the middle of Covid. Since there weren’t any restaurants open we started cooking with each other. He was my assistant in the kitchen. We were wondering if it would be difficult to find a space in Waikiki to sell street corn, shave ice, and lemonades. He thought it was a great idea but we didn’t delve into it more than that. At the time he was working in I.T. and I was involved in several entrepreneurial endeavors. A few months passed and his I.T Admin contract ended. We took it as a sign that we should give the business idea a shot. We started walking around Waikiki and talking to business owners and asking them about their businesses. We stumbled across Dukes Marketplace. The space consists of a narrow lane connecting Kuhio and Kalakawa. All along the area, there are little 100 square foot kiosks, where there are souvenir shops interspersed with a few food and drink vendors. We found out how much it would be to rent a space and facilitate purchasing a kiosk. We put together a manageable drink menu and we cooked daily specials that we would keep hot in a small warmer. It didn’t take long in that location for us to realize that we weren’t going to be able to generate the volume of sales we were expecting. We put Dukes Marketplace on the back burner and we focused our energy toward food truck events, farmers markets, and festivals. We worked those types of events and discontinued service in Waikiki. With the money we generated from these events we were able to purchase a food truck and we found a food truck park in Waikiki. We had our truck in Waikiki for about 4 months after which we were able to procure a contract with the government to provide food service from our truck at various locations around Oahu. We found a location downtown on Bishop St. We were able to open our first brick and mortar about 1 year into this business. What had started as a lemonade/shave ice stand that sold a daily special had grown into a full blown grab and go Jamaican fast casual destination with the best Oxtail stew on the island. Irie Jerk had gone from a small kiosk and grew into a successful restaurant. The business seemed to take on a life of it’s own. As the business expanded and grew we poured more and more resources into it. We came to a point at which we had invested so many resources into the business that we had no other choice but to push forward and fully commit ourselves to it’s success. The biggest lesson we learned from this experience is that no matter hard things get you push on a work to make the business a success. We watched many food businesses in the area close up shop and its just reminded us to work harder. This business is not for those without the heart, the will, and the determination, to see it through. Our business is growing and expanding and we aren’t done yet.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Jamaican food. We are most proud of the authenticity and the incredible flavor that we deliver. We are also very excited to provide customers with delicious lemonades, smoothies, and traditional Jamaican drinks.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

On our opening day of service, we had 5 different 2 gallon containers on a shelf with different lemonades. The shelf seemed sturdy enough but with about 30 minutes left in service my husband was standing out in front of the kiosk when suddenly the shelf collapsed and all the lemonade containers smashed on the ground sending yellow, pink, green, and blue lemonades cascading across the lane and all over the goods that were for sale in the adjoining kiosk. We ended having to spend most of what we made that day paying for the ruined merchandise that we had destroyed in our little mishap. We just wanted to cry but we picked each other up and got out of bed the next day. We returned to Dukes Marketplace with a renewed drive and we pushed ourselves to persevere. We also figured out a sturdier perch for our lemonade display so we could avoid any future tragedies.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Our focus on customer service, the quality of the food that we put out, and the effort we make to keep the food affordable is what made a name for Irie Jerk.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.iriejerkhi.com
• Instagram: @iriejerkhawaii

Image Credits

April Amelia Photography