We were lucky to catch up with Ryan DiMaria recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

One of the biggest risks has been starting a business. I have always wanted to work for myself. I was playing around with the idea of making Jamaican patties at home since we were not able to find any of quality since we moved to Vegas. After two years of r&d and perfecting recipes, I came across a product that my wife concluded reminded her of the patties we would eat in Jamaica. I had baked some and handed them out to friends and colleagues to get their opinions and do a bit of market research.
When the pandemic hit and I lost my job, I took it as this is the time and the opportunity to start to make something for myself. We started taking orders for the patties and offering deliveries. A handful of people were familiar with the product but majority were not, so it was for sure a challenge to get it out there. As we continued to push forward, using the little savings I had left, we developed a business plan, paid for all of our permits and licensing and were an official business.
There were many trial and errors and risks, such as when we purchased a food trailer from a manufacturer, to only receive it and realize it was missing major components we needed and would not fit our equipment as they failed to build it to the specs we gave. There had been a handful of spending on items to learn what would work, what wouldn’t, and how we can improve. Thus we had to reevaluate our situation and decided to do a tent set up as we needed to gain more capital to grow. We have pushed through days of vending in extreme heat, or winds over 30 mph working from 7am to 11pm sometimes to just make ends meet. Doing events to where it had cost us more to be there then we profited.
Although it is a lot of hard work, stress, risk and sacrifices; it is immensely rewarding. The gratification of growing in a community where you see the same faces come and support you because they love your product and vibes. The moment when someone takes a first bite of their patty or jerk and you can see their eyes light up, or they come back and tell you how amazing it was.
It is a continuing journey of mixed emotions and struggles, but I am happy and glad to have taken the step to push myself and take the risk. It’s east to default and be in a comfort zone; to have an idea but be afraid to take the leap. There has been so much growth and things learned from day one that I would have not achieved if I did not take the risk to start my own business.

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?

I am Ryan DiMaria, married to my beautiful Jamaican wife Shanice. We had met in Michigan while she was the hostess of a restaurant I was the chef at as she was on a work and travel program. Shanice had moved to Vegas a year after I did when I had proposed to her. Through our beginning years in Vegas we searched out a handful of Jamaican restaurants as she missed her food home. Unfortunately we did not find anything that was as satisfying especially when it came to patties. If you do not know what a Jamaican patty is, it is similar to a hot pocket or pasty, as every country has some version of a meat pie. It is a delicious pastry with a savory filling and a tender flaky crust. I started playing with the pastries at home, with many failures. First was getting the fillings to the right flavors and consistency. Next was the dough that took me two years to develop a recipe I was happy with. We even took a trip to Jamaica and ate at least 4 patties a day so I could dissect and taste and break down to develop my own. Ordering every flavor, every style available. I played with many ingredients readily available and could not get the flavors I wanted. This lead me to make the decision that the only way I was to achieve the authentic flavors, was to import the spices directly from Jamaica. We have held that standard since day one. Each one of our patties is handmade from scratch using spices imported directly from Jamaica.
One day I gave a patty to my wife to try and she took a bite which she said brought her back home. That is the moment where the name came from, Yaad Patty. “Yaad” refers to home in patois, the Jamaican language. The concept behind the name is that every bite of our patties will bring you back to the lovely island of Jamaica, and for Jamaicans themselves, their yaad.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

This question hits me in a unique way as a classically trained chef. When I was watching my wife cook there would be things I was conflicted on or I would told her she needed to do them differently as she could improve or it was the “correct” way to do it. She would debate and I had to learn. I really discovered when I was developing my recipes and somethings would just not turn out the same way as I was following formal techniques. I learned as I pursued more into Jamaican cooking, that I just had to take everything I knew and throw it out the window and learn all over again. It was only then I was able to achieve the flavor profiles and textures I needed.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Consistency. That is one major thing I have learned to grow . Being persistent and consistent. If you book a gig, be there. If you make a commitment or advertise something, stick to it. Keeping your community informed and showing that you are willing to be there for them through thick and thin will gain support.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yaadpatty.com
• Instagram: @yaadpatty
• Facebook: /Yaadpatty