‘You can’t say Faith’s Pen mash up’ - Vendors insist they are still open for business

While traversing the less frequently travelled route to get to Ocho Rios from Kingston, THE STAR team made a pit stop at the famous Faith's Pen Jerk Centre in St Ann.

The once vibrant venue is now a shadow of its former self, but jerk man Denton Gordon is assuring the public that the spot is still alive and kicking.

"People totally forget that there are still two and three and four and five out here doing business. So you can't say Faith's Pen mash up. Most of Faith's Pen is inactive but you have active parts of Faith's Pen which we need to make people know that look here we are still here," he said.

Currently the area, which is known to have some of the best jerk chicken, pork and other food, only houses a fraction of vendors that it can accommodate.

"We have a mixture of people but mostly locals. Business is still reliable in Faith's Pen in spite of the odds that go against it," Gordon said. While many believe that the construction of the North-South Highway is the main contributing factor to the decline of Faith's Pen, Gordon said that is not the case.

"People just using highway because the highway take away the traffic but we past that deh stage deh long time. When we analyse it's not about the highway," he said. "You have other places doing the exact same thing that we are doing so you getting the competition somewhere else. So normally when you coulda left from Ochi, a Faith's Pen you affi come get jerk chicken. You have about five different jerk centre before you reach Faith's Pen now. So those are some of the common causes that cause Faith's Pen to not getting the booming business again."

Gordon also noted that the lack of succession planning to pass the booths over to new owners when a tenant moves on has also contributed to making the place dull.

"Is not that we don't have business. It's just that we don't have nobody available to take up the shop because some gone a foreign, some get old and nobody never make preparation fi say 'look here, this is a good business weh you need fi maintain and take care of after I leave'," he reasoned. Gordon said that he inherited his booth from his parents in 2003.

When asked what sets Faith's Pen apart from all the other local spots, Gordon directed us to look at the number of winners the area has produced in the CB Foods pan chicken competition.

"In 2019, I came second overall but I was the regional champion up to that point. And before me the champion came from here. Before that champion, the champion came from here and the second place came from here too. We actually held it from about 2016 coming up," he said. "Just like when you a talk bout Windalco you a talk 'bout bauxite, when yuh a talk bout Faith's Pen you a talk bout jerk."