{"id":35528,"date":"2025-11-06T08:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T08:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/35528\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T08:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T08:02:13","slug":"andrew-ashmeade-built-tampas-jerk-hut-into-a-celebration-of-caribbean-culture-and-hes-looking-to-expand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/35528\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Ashmeade built Tampa\u2019s Jerk Hut into a celebration of Caribbean culture\u2014and he\u2019s looking to expand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AAndrew Ashmeade outside David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Florida on March 29, 2025. Credit: andrew.ashmeade.5 \/ Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Ashmeade, the owner and founder of Jerk Hut<\/a>, has dreamed of bringing a piece of Caribbean culture to Tampa since the 1980s. What started as a simple scribble on a piece of paper during his college days at the University of South Florida (USF) has grown into work that proudly celebrates Jamaican culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wish that we had a place that we could call our own, to showcase our culture, our Caribbean culture and our Jamaican vibes,\u201d Ashmeade told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

Ashmeade, whose family is from central Jamaica, envisioned a spot that had music, food, and pictures of his island and everything the culture has to offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Initially starting out as an engineering major before switching over to marketing, Ashmeade said he never actually finished his marketing degree because he started the restaurant while in school and never went back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The opportunity came in a very weird way, according to Ashmeade who told CL he got the chance to run a kitchen inside a rock and roll bar on Fletcher Avenue called The Brass Mug (now located on Skipper Road).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of where I really started practicing and bringing in a lot of the family recipes from home. I invented our famous red sauce and jerk cuisine,\u201d Ashmeade said. \u201cI learned how to cook jerks back in Jamaica, which is very strange, because a lot of people in Jamaica never cook Jerk.\u201d<\/p>\n

He opened the first Jerk Hut on N Nebraska Avenue in 1993, and currently operates four locations between South Tampa and the university area hotspot.<\/p>\n

Ashmeade said jerk cooking belonged to one specific part of Jamaica called Port Antonio. But, as jerk cuisine grew in popularity, he embraced it and endured hard struggles getting the restaurant off the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a time where we were buying all of our food each day, maybe even twice a day, from the supermarket, not even from a wholesaler,\u201d Ashmeade said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a big budget and we were making our plans daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was help from his brother, sister-in-law Tony, and their kids. But as the business became more successful, more relatives joined\u2014expanding what Ashmeade calls the extended \u201cJerk Hut family\u201d of employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of like a little movement that we started with bringing Jamaica to Tampa,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Growth, he explained, happened through listening to customers and accommodating their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were on the same level as them,\u201d Ashmeade said. \u201cEvery little thing that they wanted from us we delivered in the most honest way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Ashmeade wanted Jerk Hut to do more than showcase Jamaican food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want it to be a place where we all come to enjoy ourselves,\u201d Ashmeade said, about the concept that\u2019s become a cultural center for those of Caribbean descent and otherwise.<\/p>\n

Music coming through the PA includes reggae, soca, and compas, and the Fowler Avenue location is known for its all-you-can-eat buffet featuring jerk dishes, curries, stews and Jamaican sides without the pressure of full-service dining. A Friday ladies night started after COVID and features six different Caribbean DJs, domino games, and street food.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the shortest trip you could take to Jamaica.\u201d Ashmeade said. \u201cNo TSA, no luggage check, none of that you know. Just walk right into jerk and you\u2019re right in Jamaica.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last week, Ashmeade has been part of efforts to send aid back home after Hurricane Melissa, part of a longstanding involvement with groups like the Caribbean Cultural Association and various cultural clubs at USF.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Ashmeade is working to expand the footprint of one of Tampa\u2019s most iconic local concepts and keep the spirit of Jamaican culture alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that we can develop it and give opportunities to other people, to, you know, maybe have a jerk cut somewhere else,\u201d Ashmeade said. \u201cSo we\u2019re in the works of trying to do that, because I would love to spread the culture that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This article appears in Oct. 30 \u2013 Nov. 5, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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