When Andrew Thompson opened the Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant at 918 Fulton Street in 2000, he was already one of the top experts in the country on Golden Krust’s delicious crispy Jamaican meat patties.

Not only was he a long-time sales executive for Golden Krust, a Black family-owned company. He was also an in-law to the founding Hawthorne family. “There’s a family linkage. My sister is actually married to one of the Hawthorne owners,” he told Our Time Press. “Golden Krust is more like a family thing.”

Established in 1989 in the Bronx, Golden Krust was launched by the Hawthorne Jamaican American family. “It was a growing company, I believed the name would have given me much more visibility and that turned out to be true,” said Thompson.

So, when he bought the Patty Palace Restaurant on Fulton Street in 2000, within a couple months he transformed into a Golden Krust franchise. Today, there are 115 Golden Krust franchise restaurants.

“From day one, I believed in the family approach to the business. Also, the fact that’s it’s a Caribbean entity, especially Jamaican,” said Thompson, who was born in Jamaica. “I like the way that the family went about advertising was strategic.

Over time, a lot of people really started believing this product. They start buying it, especially the patties. Then we started making our own jerk chicken and so forth. It turned out well.”

“It’s quality. They is a wide variety of patties,” he said. “There is a consistency with the product because there are other products out there. But, because the name is Golden Krust, I believe that the whole marketing aspect of it and just the quality of the product put them over the top in terms of the best product in that category.”

Thompson was able to successfully segway from sales to restaurant ownership. However, he feels going into the restaurant field in the current economy can be challenging. “I believe in the early years it was much easier to succeed in the business,” he said. “Now, it’s become more challenging with high food costs, higher insurance and everything.

If you structure right, put in the hard work, the long hours, make that kind of sacrifice and have a good team, especially as related to customer service, be community oriented in giving back and have those kinds of attributes in combination, you know that you can succeed.”

Since he opened his Golden Krust Restaurant 25 years ago, he’s discovered that the labor force has changed. “People tend to move around a lot more nowadays. Before, people you employed would be with you for years. Nowadays it’s hard to really find those kind of people,” he said. “My thing is that if you treat people well. Give them what they deserve. They will work with you and they will grow with you.”

With his degree in political science from Lehman College, Thompson has observed the gentrification of the neighborhood. “This evolution, this change in the demographics in the community has impact a lot of people. Some positive and some negative. You have more white folks coming in and some from different parts of the country who aren’t familiar with what I sell, but discovered it from advertising and like it,” he said.

“This economic metamorphosis or evolution has good and bad with it. I’ve seen people like me get displaced as a result. Maybe because of rising rents and not owning the building.” As a small business owner, he supports his neighboring businesses, community organizations and church projects.

“It’s still a nice mix in terms of the community,” he added. “There are a lot of city agencies close by. There are a lot of Black families that have been here for generations and they still support.”

At his Golden Krust Restaurant on Fulton, customers have favorites. Top selling dishes include jerk wings, oxtail and whiting filets. However, Golden Krust patties still rank as a top delicacy. During the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday, he hosts and open house “Customer Appreciation Day.”
“Some people come religiously almost every day because of the product,” said Thompson. “I believe that if you have something good. If the environment is inviting, people will come.”
Andrew Thompson also owns the Golden Krust Restaurant at 1014 Nostrand Ave.

For more information on Golden Krust, visit www.goldenkrust.com