Whole Foods Worker Becomes Jamaican Chef

 Chef Tony Hyde believes that his business Sattdown Jamaican Grill was meant to be. Hyde initially turned down the opportunity to buy the restaurant before an experience at his employer prompted him to make the leap into entrepreneurship in 2009.

What are some of your signature dishes?

Oxtails, jerk chicken and vegan jerk chicken and we also jerk salmon, it seems to be a specialty.

What inspired you to start your business?

Before I started the business, I was working at Whole Foods. I was always making my own sauces and going around to different restaurants selling jerk sauces. And I went to this girl who owned this restaurant. When she offered to sell me the restaurant, I told her no, I was comfortable working at Whole Foods. And after (that) I developed the (bracket invention), I took it to Whole Foods. They were so happy, this would also save them from lawsuits because prior to me developing the bracket, their refrigerator cases fell on one woman’s arm and broke her wrist so they had to pay her for a great number of years. … I went to the manager and said “Listen, I have a great idea on fixing this.” Once I took it to them, he took it to the main corporate office and the corporate office decided every store that had the refrigerated case had to have these brackets. So I thought, this would be something I could use to send my son to college.

Then what happened?

After three weeks I gave them the bracket, I was working overnight and normally the manager would (talk to me) but this time the manager walked in and I looked at him and he was looking in every direction except looking at me. By the next morning, he called me in the office and said “Listen, because you work for us, we own the patent for this bracket, you can’t make it anymore.” If it’s my invention, how do you own it? He pulled out a handbook and it was a revised handbook that said because you work for Whole Foods, if you develop anything that could be used by them, it becomes intellectual property of Whole Foods. So there was nothing I could do but lick my wounds. 

What about the girl with the restaurant?

She offered the restaurant to me. I turned it down about three or four times and I decided to go ahead and take this restaurant. Whatever money I had left in my 401K, I took it with whatever money I had and I decided to go ahead and get this restaurant.

What’s the best aspect of running your own business?

Always developing recipes that just leave people in amazement. To me, the greatest is when you get the plate back to the kitchen and the plate is completely clean.

What’s the biggest challenge your business has faced?  

After I got the restaurant, it was a nightmare because it seemed like every piece of equipment in the restaurant was broken. The refrigerator in the kitchen was broken, the refrigerator in the front was broken, the freezer was broken, the ice machine was broken, the oven in the kitchen was broken.  

How has the pandemic affected you and your business? 

I had spent a bunch of money to redo the furniture in Studio City right before the pandemic and then of course, they shut down the restaurants, nobody was dining in. Every day, I walk in and the furniture would be piled up. … So I called a company from Anaheim that buys restaurant equipment. They came in and I had spent $6,000 to redo the chairs and tables and they offered me $250 for everything. I just went ahead and sold it for $250 just to get everything out. It was just a major blow for me. 

How did you recover?

Whatever I had money left, I put some shelving up to create a small Jamaican market so now it gives people an alternative to buy food pre-cooked or hot sauces and some hard-to-find Jamaican products that they could actually take home. … It turned out to be a good situation. …  I think the pandemic has changed the whole nature of the restaurant business. It became more of a take-out industry.

What advice would you give someone who wanted to start their own business?

You have to have faith. I think it’s always a great idea to be your own boss, but you have to make sure you put in an extra effort not to fail because the failure will be on you.