By Barbara Ellington, Senior Gleaner Writer
Trevor Griffiths second place winner in last Sunday's Jamaican Jerk Festival's Jerk Cook Off competition held at the C.B. Smith Park, Pembroke Pines, Florida, poses with his silver dutch pot and Christine Straw, former Miss Jamaica World and Miss Jamaica Universe. - Contributes
WHEN FLAIR interviewed Trevor Griffiths, second-place winner in the Jamaican Jerk Festival's Jerk Cook-Off competition held at the C.B. Smith Park, Pembroke Pines, Florida, last Sunday, we were surprised to learn that he hardly fancies himself as a cook. In fact, as the rules allowed, he brought his chef along to do the major part of the work.
"My business is restaurant commercial high pressure steam cleaning, which means that I clean up after the real chefs. I know many restaurant owners and I am always throwing parties. When I do, my clients supply all the food so my friends assume that I am a good cook. But I'm not, I just love to entertain," said Griffiths, who did confess that he has about 10 ways to cook fish.
FOR THE FUN OF IT
So, his friends told the Jerk Festival organisers that he could cook and he decided to enter for the fun of it. "Winning a prize was the last thing on my mind," he said.
Lucky for him, he did because he won the second prize of cash plus the silver Dutch Pot Trophy. His recipes were jerk barbecue chicken and filet of snapper with a jerk sauce.
Today, Griffiths is a successful businessman, his company, A-1 Kitchen and Exhaust Service has clients including the Denny's chain of restaurants in Florida, but were it not for the singing that he heard when he was at is lowest, he would not be around today.
"I have been in this business since 1992," said the Kingstonian, who trained to be a fire service technician. "But after graduating, there were no jobs available in my area of expertise and looking around I realised that the number one cause of restaurant fires was grease build-up which leads to 80 per cent of the fires in the industry. So I took the opportunity to start a company dedicated to cleaning the heavy equipment used by restaurants and began with my favourite spots."
He said the business grew and he was forced to take on an African-American partner who eventually stole his business, causing him to lose his house and car. He (partner), even moved away from the area in California where they lived at the time.
"I was so down and broke, I decided that I would kill him and kill myself because I had nothing to live for. When I heard that he was in Riverside, California, I bought a gun at a pawn shop and went to find him but was unsuccessful," Griffiths said.
Following his exhaustive and futile search, he decided to book into Embassy Suites, went to sleep and woke up feeling surprisingly calm and well rested. Griffiths said he heard singing voices and asked the hotel's maid if she heard it too but she said no. He went down to the receptionist and asked if she'd heard the singing but her response was also negative.
PULLING ME
"Feeling like something was pulling me towards the voices, I asked her for the nearest church and drove to it. I found a branch of the Kansas City Seventh-Day Adventist Church and went inside to hear the pastor relating a story similar to mine in his sermon. It felt like he was speaking directly to me and as I listened, something happened to change my mind and my life forever."
Still in a euphoric state, he left the church, drove back to Los Angeles and threw the gun over the Golden Gate Bridge as he drove by. Back at home, he wrote a note of forgiveness to his former business partner, packed his belongings and moved to Florida. That was December 1995.
"I started all over again here and God blessed me three times over so I still go to church every Sabbath that I can and my philosophy of life is: 'I may not see tomorrow, so I'll enjoy today and give of my best today'."
Married with one daughter who lives on his Florida ranch with him, he has taken up photography as a hobby. He returns to Jamaica at least once each year to visit his father and son who still live in the Molynes Road area of St. Andrew.
