Corn Dog Man, Jahaziel, finds niche in Kingstown
Jahaziel Bute of Redemption Sharpes is making a name for himself in the food business in capital, Kingstown. Known by many names, “Black Ninja”, “Corn Dog Man”, “Dog Corn Man”, “Rub ah Dub Dub Sauce Man”, “Special Sauce Man”, the 20-year-old can be seen daily on the road outside the Bishop College Kingstown (BCK) in Paul’s Avenue hustling his corn dogs which are coated with his signature sauce.
A corn dog is a sausage that has been coated in a thick layer of batter and deep fried. It originated in the United States and is a common item in American cuisine.
In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday, January 11, Bute said he started the corn dog business about seven years ago as a form one student at the St Martin’s Secondary School (SMSS), in an effort to subsidize his family’s income. He lives at home with his parents, five brothers and one sister. He is the youngest of the males in his family.
Bute said he later enrolled as a student at the Kingstown Technical Institute (KTI), and in 2018, one of the assignments challenged students in his class to do a savoury food item.
“…so I continued doing the corn dog while the other students did stuff like peas roll and so on. Then we had to add a savoury sauce as a challenge, which was adding a sweet sauce on salty food, but we didn’t make it and got like a 90% passing grade on average,” but Bute added that he never quit experimenting.
However, when the coronavirus closed schools in 2020, like hundreds of other students, Bute transitioned to online classes, but this was cut short when the phone he was using fell from his hands and the screen broke.
“I did not have the means to do online school because my phone dropped and I did not have a computer so I said ‘boy, you tried something, you learn something in school, and you must try something new’ so I continued the business because it was the only thing I had to succeed myself,” the young man said.
So he started to sell corn dogs again and used only ketchup as usual, but then a recipe for a “special sauce” came to him in a dream.
“I had a dream but I don’t know who give me the sauce. I was in the dream making corn dogs and a list of herbs come to me, so I use the herbs after I come to find out my mommy sell the herbs,” Bute explained.
His mother, Hermie Bute sells herbs in the vegetable market in Kingstown.
“My sauce is a very special sauce with about 9 to 21 herbs at any time,” Bute said while not revealing his recipe.
He is hoping to expand his business using a mobile set-up where he is able to hire persons who use specialized carts to move around the city, hopefully covering more ground, getting more exposure, and landing more sales.
“I have plans for business and that is where I want to invest, save the money, and invest more, you make $300, you invest half, you make a million, you invest half,” Bute commented to SEARCHLIGHT.
The small business operator said he starts making the dough for the corn dogs around 12 a.m. and gets into Kingstown anytime between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Sometimes he stays as late as 6:00 p.m., only leaving his position to return home to replenish his corn dogs container. He makes about two trips home to refill.
When asked how persons react to his corn dogs, a smiling Bute replied, “a woman told me I am like a man in bed, and a man told me I taste better than he grandmother sauce, and the little children just does rub their belly and walk away, meaning it taste good.
“I think I will do this until the day I am buried. I rather work than sit down home, working is fun to me. Interaction, communication and expansion,” Bute commented.
Apart from selling corn dogs and hoping one day to expand, Bute also has advice for young people, the males in particular.
“Don’t give up because…nothing is over until it is over; that is my philosophy throughout life since I was small…life is not over until it over…worshipping God is not over until it’s over, nothing in life is over until it’s over, not even learning. So just try and try and you will make it.”
He said he does not really have an issue having dropped out of school since the circumstances were beyond his control, and it led him to a hustle that is working out for him. However, Bute is encouraging students to stay in school.
“I am self-educated right now. I read philosophy books. I do plenty mathematics at home. I read Wikipedia a lot, daily for two hours on history and religion,” he revealed while noting that he follows Christianity but is not a member of any church.
“I think if the youths really sit down in school, close their hands, stop looking north, west, east, south, focus on the teacher, watch him/her in their eyes, they will learn something and be better,” Bute concluded.
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