Meet Hutton John of Caribbean Haven in Ventura

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hutton John.

Hutton, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a native of Beterverwagting (BV), Guyana and grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. I spent many years in Iowa, Chicago, Miami and Southern California getting to know myself, as I like to put it. I honed my cooking and baking skills from the Culinary Institute of Pinky John, my mother, and her late best friend, Audrey. By the age of 11 I was making pastries, cakes and breads from scratch in my auntie’s catering business that supplied pastries to local restaurants in Kitty, Guyana. My family migrated to the USA (Brooklyn) when I was 12 1/2 years old. When I was 15, I got first job delivering pizza for Uno’s Restaurant at South Street Seaport, NYC and worked my way of up to the Head Cook on weekends. For the next 5 years, I spent all of school breaks cooking for restaurants in Manhattan.

In addition to having a lifelong passion for cooking, my formative years were spent exploring seeds and vegetables. When my friends were playing with fire trucks and toys, I collected seeds, planted, and watched them grow. I could recall the excitement as a child after planting an okra seed on my uncle’s farm in Guyana. This fascination with plants led me to Cornell University where I studied Plant and Seed Physiology. I went on to attained undergraduate and graduate degrees from the best University I know. I attended Harvard University Program on Negotiations many years later and received a certificate of achievement upon completion of that program. The first 20 years of my career I spent leading research in some capacity for 3 different companies in the agricultural space. Without this experience, what I’m doing today couldn’t have been possible.

I continued to polish my craft as I grew older, cooking for relatives’ gatherings, catering for friends’ special events and helping produce legendary Caribbean cookouts hosted by my mother. My mom is famous for her cooking as she is for speaking her mind. She puts it all out there, like it or leave, but in the end, you will love her for it. My preoccupation for cooking is only matched by my mom and by my passion for truly understanding the science behind what made for the best food and vegetables that nature could deliver.

This self-absorption with food and vegetable science, coupled with my work ethic, enabled me to quickly climb the ranks and become a global scientific lead at the world’s largest agricultural company, Monsanto. In this post, my global responsibilities took me to over 30 countries and gave me the unparalleled opportunity to sample many international cuisines at their sources. I returned home and recreated those culinary experiences in my kitchen, frequently adding my own special twist to each dish. I wasn’t just satisfied duplicating what I consumed. I wanted to reproduce something that was better tasting by anyone’s standards. This enabled me to broaden my foundational expertise in Caribbean cuisine with a deep culinary worldview all on my own.

I eventually realized that consistently missing from every “Main Street” American neighborhood and international community I visited were Caribbean eateries. No matter the destination, I could always find Chinese, Indian, American, European, and Thai fare, but never a Caribbean establishment. I knew in my heart that the joy of Caribbean cuisine would be welcomed by the masses if it was only shared in the “right way.” The “right way” to me meant using only fresh, high-quality vegetables, meats and ingredients, leveraging authentic cooking approaches and recipes and offering a memorable experience. All of this drove me to establish Caribbean Haven as the very first offering of its kind and shaped my ongoing mission, which is to continue to fulfill: make authentic, fresh, appealing, and delicious Island cuisine accessible to the masses! For the remainder of my life, I plan to see that mission is fulfilled.

Has it been a smooth road?
Yes and No. Before I decided to launch a restaurant, I wanted to test Caribbean food in my market, Ventura County. Quite frankly, most people in Ventura County has never tried Caribbean food, so I thought it would be wise to get their feedback before opening a store front. I started in November, 2015 with a catering business, specifically to see if people would like our product and most importantly, pay for it. In addition to Caribbean food, I also offered Filipino and Vegan food. Why? Because my partner, Richel, is Filipina and I’m a Vegan 75% of the times. LOL. The Ventura area has a lot of Filipinos and Vegans so it made sense. Additionally, I wanted to diversify our offering and supplement our revenue stream, just in case they didn’t take to Caribbean food. The results of our market research and testing were high positively, they LOVED our food and prices. We have a 50% conversion rate, meaning 1/2 of the businesses that tasted our food samples called to place a catering order. FYI, the conversion rate for major brands is less than 10%.

There was one hick-up, our first major catering job. We were hired by a local non-profit agency to cater their annual gala and it turned out to be a disaster! We showed up late, half the food was prepared, drinks spilled in the truck, we forget items at the catering location and to top it off, I got a ticket on our way to the job. Nothing went right that day! That was probably the most embarrassing day of my life. It was a very humbling experience, to say the least. I agonized over that one event for months, but I knew one thing, that will never happen again. I analyzed what went wrong and took corrective actions. My ISO 1000 Audit Certification at Monsanto was put to good use. To date, that was the only bad experience I’ve had as a caterer, the very first one. As I look back, it was the best thing that happened to the business. I learned more from that one bad experience than anything else I did afterwards.

Now, as an aspiring restaurateur, I’ve made many mistakes and the doors are not even open yet. Most of my mistakes have to do with the lease. My biggest mistake is that I never hired outside council to review and negotiate the lease. I may have done a nice job negotiating good lease rate ($$$), but they are so much more to a restaurant lease than just rent that I was not aware of and it’s coming back to bite me in the rear end! Those mistakes are adding significant cost to our bottom line. At times it feels debilitating, but I have to do everything possible to get to that starting line, grand opening. Failing at this is not an option!

Until the end of the lease, in five years, I will try to make the best out of a bad situation. No use dwelling on something I can’t change. I’ve learned from it though, better believe that!

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Caribbean Haven story. Tell us more about the business.
Launching Fall 2017 in Ventura, CA, Caribbean Haven restaurant combines fresh, high-quality ingredients with authentic recipes to deliver memorable culinary experiences truly unique to this market. We are the only Caribbean eatery in Ventura County. We specialize in Caribbean, Filipino, and Vegan/Ital food.

Caribbean Haven offers intensely prepared dishes that combine the aesthetic approach typical of 5-star chefs with the savory pleasures common to home-cooked meals. Delicately spiced and provocatively designed plates, such as menu favorites jerk tri-tip, oxtail, pancit and jerk tofurky, are just the beginning of a comprehensive offering that leaves customers wanting more.

Our motto, “We sell 5-star home-cooked meals for the price of a burger.”

The Caribbean Haven concept is the inspiration of Hutton ” Chef Bob(by)” John, an Ivy League trained and internationally recognized vegetable seed scientist and chef. The concept is the culmination of my life’s work, expertise and passion across the areas of nutrition and Island-inspired cuisine.

“Caribbean food is simply one of the most hearty and delicious brands of cuisine in the world. Yet, it’s incredibly hard to find high-quality, authentic and savory Caribbean meals anywhere outside of the Islands. The global markets are simply under-served. I opened Caribbean Haven to fulfill one mission: deliver the very best of what Island cuisine has to offer to the masses.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The food industry is in a constant state of flux, generally speaking. Peoples’ taste is changing and as our communities become more diverse, so is their appetite and variety for food. They are demanding more of an eclectic offering. What we typically serve is a reflection of our neighbors (our community). Aside from variety and taste, our customers are demanding more options for how their food is prepared and delivered. That’s why we are seeing a proliferation of home delivered food preparation companies, on-line ordering apps, delivery services and recipe sites. As a food service provider, we must be able to offer more than one point of sale. You need the entire package to survive in this competitive, corporate environment (national chains).

Pricing:

• Lunch (soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, rotis) – $6-13
• Meat and Vegan Entrees – $12-16
• Seafood Entrees – $15-19

Contact Info:

• Address: Catering Location: 1673 Donlon Street, suite 205, Ventura, CA 93003
  Restaurant Launch: October, 2017 @ Montalvo Square Center, 1780 S Victoria Avenue, Ventura, CA 93003
• Website: www.caribhaven.com
• Phone: 805-954-3064
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/caribhaven
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/caribhaven
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/caribbean-haven-ventura

Image Credit:
All Hutton’s photos