CINCINNATI — A new restaurant is celebrating its grand opening near Findlay Market this weekend.
Jay's Nyam & Jam will open its storefront on Saturday, April 4 beginning at 10:30 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., welcome remarks and congratulations will be held by Corporation for Findlay Market staff, with the Jay's Nyam & Jam team making remarks right after, at 10:35 a.m. Then at 10:40 a.m., the ribbon will be cut, followed by a toast.
Patrons at the grand opening will be able to enjoy a free Jamaican patty or fountain drink with a purchase totaling $10 or more.
Jay's Nyam & Jam is the newest resident of the Findlay Launch Storefront Accelerator Program, which is Findlay Market's accelerator program for food-focused storefronts and restaurant concepts. The accelerator program requires a business to occupy the storefront for a minimum of 15 months.
That means for the next year, Cincinnatians will be able to enjoy the Jamaican flavors offered at Jay's Nyam & Jam. The restaurant has been part of the Findlay Market community for three years, after joining Findlay Kitchen in 2023.
Their Jamaican fare has already garnered attention in Cincinnati in those three years. The team placed in different categories of Best of Taste at Taste of Cincinnati several years in a row. In the Findlay Kitchen Start-Ups category last year, Jay's Nyam & Jam took home silver for their appetizer/side dish of jerk chicken wings with pineapple jerk sauce, and gold for their jerk chicken "Jamaican" bowl as an entree.
"It sometimes seems surreal," said Jermaine and Kelly Vassell, who own Jay's Nyam & Jam, in a press release. "We can still remember the day we came down to tour Findlay Kitchen before becoming members and joining the market family. We had no clue what we were doing, but had an idea, or thought we did, of what we wanted to do."
Jermaine, a Jamaican native and Kelly, a Cincinnati native, started the restaurant concept to bring authentic flavors "straight from the island" to tables in Cincinnati. Outside of Taste of Cincinnati appearances, the restaurant has also served up customers at Blink and during pop-ups at Findlay Market. The business's website says the couple hopes to become a community staple for Jamaican food and culture, while giving back.
The Vassells said the Findlay Kitchen and Findlay Launch experiences have helped them start and grow their business over the past few years.
