‘Every ingredient is natural. He is meticulous about what he puts into every juice and how it promotes good health’.
Juicing has been around since the 1930’s and in recent years has had a huge following here in the Turks and Caicos Islands, for its health benefits and nutritional value.
Rickey Sinclair has lived in the Turks and Caicos for many years and is well known. He has taken a hobby, which was then an extra form of income to support his family and created a business that has grown from his home distribution style, into him owning a popular juice bar on Providenciales. Tropical Taste has built a name on the island and Rickey’s natural juices are in demand. His presentations are artistic and thought goes into what is added to every juice. He goes the extra mile to please his customers and keep them coming back.
He recounted that he was still working at a local hotel and would juice at home to sell on the road when he wasn’t working.
‘Honestly, I did it to make some money, then it was for the health benefits. I realized it was working out and it was something I enjoyed doing’, he said
He began reading up on how to mix juices with fruits and vegetables, from the Turks & Caicos and his native island Jamaica, and people loved it. This made him become invested in what was then still a side job. He started to solicit small restaurants and stores on the island and practiced creating his own flavors, through trial and error. His family and friends kept encouraging him to officially start his business.
To improve and build on what he had, Rickey invested in buying books on the medical uses of juicing and the values of different fruits and vegetables. He branched off into getting stock from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This lead to him travelling internationally to the United Sates and other countries; visiting juice bars, observing their layout, the different styles of mixing natural juices, experimenting with ingredients and how to expand his juice menu with other natural flavors and increase the nutritional value.
He is meticulous about what he puts into every juice and how it promotes good health. Rickey began drinking the green juice because he found out it was good for his high blood pressure. He added items on his menu to cater to persons with high blood pressure, diabetes and other health ailments and proceeded to market it to his customers. The demand became greater.
Subsequent to him being laid off, he went into the business full time. With moving his business into its new home, he added sandwiches, green salads and fruit salads to his menu, further strengthening his brand. Tropical Taste is a popular place for a juice after a morning workout, to pick up a healthy lunch and to stop for a quick nutritious drink on the way home in the evenings.
With an array of different natural flavors and names, some that make you smile, raise your eyebrows and still make your taste buds go crazy; these juices are not only great tasting, but they are healthy too. Rickey is serious about what he does and his juicing library has grown exponentially, from the days when he first started out. He wants to build his brand into being the go to juice bar on the island.
I was privy to observing him at work at Tropical Taste and was impressed, with his customer service ethics, interaction with his staff and the number of patrons and regulars that came into his establishment. The location is ideal; on Airport Road , a few minutes away from the International Airport, in a central location nobody can miss.
Anyone can see that he loves juicing, so it makes the journey a learning experience not a task.
One of the key things that he has taken away from this journey, is to never give up on what you want in life or that dream that you have. He has proven that hard work, dedication and perseverance and many sleepless nights pays off.
Rickey wants to eventually expand, and have different locations here on Providenciales and on the other islands in the Turks and Caicos. But until then, he keeps hustling and providing the best experience for every customer that comes in for his sort after healthy concoctions.
*As seen in GEEMS issue 5, get a copy of GEEMS magazine from the geemsmagazine.com/shop or become a BBF for a year and get every publication, when it comes out.
By Barbara Handfield
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