Cegin Caribi – A Natural Progression

Growing up in Jamaica Geoff Miller was always passionate about cooking, he was taught to cook a meal with love, whilst striving to enhance his skills for perfection and ultimately, this is where his culinary journey began.

“I have travelled the world and tasted some delicious food from a variety of different cultures, and since meeting my wife (whilst working on a luxury cruise-ship), I fell in love with the Welsh culture and language and we decided to settle down in North Wales and start a family” says Geoff.

Geoff continues:

“Starting with feeding family and friends, extending to catering for family gatherings then cooking for colleagues both on the cruise ship and in the Fire Station (where I’m currently a retained fire fighter) my passion to cook fresh, high-quality food evolved.”

Established in 2020 and officially launched in March 2021, Cegin Caribi was the natural progression for Geoff where he is able to offer a menu of authentic Caribbean home cooked cuisine, using local ingredients.  He has learnt to combine his authentic style of cooking with his wife’s culinary cuisine, incorporating spices and Welsh produce to create a vibrant, tropical taste which is reflected in the Cegin Caribi logo.

Geoff said:

“Our mission is to give our customers the opportunity to celebrate life’s special moments by offering authentic Caribbean home cooked food, bringing sunshine to North Wales – even on a rainy day!”

This has been somewhat of a juggling act for Geoff, working three days a week running Cegin Caribi whilst also working as a retained fire fighter with the Fire Service.

Geoff’s passion is in the cooking and admits that other aspects of the business are where the challenges lie for him!  Cywain, a Menter a Busnes project was able to bridge this gap by offering support with various aspects of running a business, branding, providing webinars and one to one sessions on topics such as business planning, finance, marketing on a budget, and digital marketing.

Geoff admits that “There is a lot to do to get a business up and running in terms of focusing on pricing, sourcing ingredients, digital marketing and other protocols involved with running a business”.

He continues by praising the support offered by Cywain and says that “All the webinars have been great and I wouldn’t have been able to launch my business without all the technical assistance with marketing, the website and accountancy”.

Cegin Caribi is quite unique in that there is no similar offering within the local vicinity, offering customers not only exotic flavours using ingredients sourced from local suppliers, but a huge passion and enthusiasm towards the Welsh language – Geoff’s lively Facebook posts demonstrate this passion and are well worth a look!

Geoff first heard of Cywain from another local company, Bragdy Cybi (also supported by Cywain) and noticed how they were promoting their brand via social media and decided to do the same, incorporating the Welsh language.  Promoting through the medium of Welsh is becoming one of Cegin Caribi’s unique selling points and reiterates how Geoff feels about the language.

With a clear mission, Geoff’s original intention was to develop a marinade/jerk sauce, however as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic he was unable to continue with the product development stage.  Determined not to be defeated, Geoff adapted his original plan and invested in a catering unit (a converted container) and has been overwhelmed by the support he has experienced.

Geoff says:

“If we can survive lockdown, we can survive anything!” and says that “Cywain have been phenomenal and are simply the best!” supporting him on his journey. 

He hopes to proceed with his pre-Covid plan of developing a Caribbean sauce and to purchase a catering van at some point.  In the short term he hopes to expand his delivery area and employ a driver and a chef.  The next step will be to work with a business mentor through Cywain to help develop the current business model, and as lockdown eases, to consider how he can move forward with other ideas.

Nerys Davies, Cywain Development Manager says:

“Geoff and his wife Gwawr have worked extremely hard to establish Cegin Caribi and even though Geoff admits that he is not the most technically minded, he is very keen to learn and continue to develop his skills.  Geoff’s enthusiasm and passion for what he does is evident and I look forward to be able to visit him in Holyhead to taste some of these wonderful delights!”

The menu consists of a range of dishes including Jerk Chicken, Vegan Curry, Brown Stew Chicken and Curried Goat, with a choice of sides and gluten free options.

From the outset, Geoff has been using sustainable containers to deliver the meals as he feels this is an important part of the business.

Cegin Caribi, based in Holyhead, Anglesey is a delivery take away service with ambition to develop to offer Caribbean themed nights, to sell at local outlets and to share the passion in the form of Caribbean cookery classes.

Visit: www.cegincaribi.co.uk