Photo Caption : Adrian Walker (centre) accepts his prize for achieving the highest theoretical score in the CB Foods’ 2025 PAN competition workshop held at the Montego Bay Community College in St James recently. The presentation was made by Sasha-Kaye McCalla (left), Marketing Specialist, JN Money and Amelia Deacon, Marketing Coordinator, JN Money.
For top pan chicken vendor, Adrian Walker, the journey in this year’s staging of the CB Pan Chicken Championship hasn’t been only about the quest for money and a trophy, but the knowledge he has gained about money itself and how to manage it.
‘I’m stricter with how I spend money now,” he said recently, reflecting on how the financial management training session he participated in has already changed the way he runs his pan chicken business.
The Hanover vendor was among more than 170 participants across Jamaica who benefited from the training during the preliminary round of the CB Foods’ 2025 PAN competition, which featured two regional workshops on money management, customer service, and food safety. The workshops, organised by CB Chicken, were held at GC Foster College in St Catherine and Montego Bay Community College in St James.
The money management training, presented by JN Money, gave pan chicken vendors practical money management skills to grow their businesses.
Mr Walker along with Reneka Bennett of St Mary each won a cash prize of J$25,000 from JN Money for achieving the highest theoretical score in their respective workshop. As a requirement to advance to the finals of the CB PAN Chicken Competition, the vendors were required to achieve the highest combined scores in the theoretical and practical assessments during the workshops.
“I’m excited and happy. I’m overjoyed,” Mr Walker related. “It’s my first time entering. I was so surprised when I won,” he said adding that he found the presentation on budgeting, debt management and savings to be the most meaningful to him.
A professional chef, Mr Walker has worked at several hotels in Western Jamaica and eight years on cruise lines. He plans to open his own business soon.
“I’m preparing myself to be in the finals to do my best, to win it and take it home,” he asserted.
For Ms Bennett, the lessons were equally impactful. A first-time entrant inspired by her mother, who won for the parish of St Mary last year and came third at the finals, she said she has been applying the workshop’s financial management advice to her family-run business in Port Maria.
“The workshop was very helpful to me because it gave me a lot of information about how to run a business and how to better manage money. I learnt how to budget and prepare a budget and also to ensure that I know how every dollar is being spent and how to ensure that I don’t go overbudget.”
She pointed out that one of the biggest takeaways was understanding the importance of bank records in showing the true scale of her business.
“The major benefit for me was what I was told about depositing all the earnings to your bank account and not just the savings and that I should spend from that account and take out the savings after. This is helpful if I need a loan because if I just use the savings, the bank will think that that is all the business is making,” she explained.
Her prize has provided a timely boost for her.
“I was happy for the money I won because it came at the right time with the finals a few weeks away. I used it to buy the material and other things that I will need for that day, so it has proved helpful, and I am glad I won it,” she related, but her greatest takeaway is the knowledge she received.
Mr Walker and Ms Bennett are among 32 vendors who advanced to the finals of the CB PAN Chicken Competition, set for August 31 at Jamaica College in St Andrew. The event is staged under the theme ‘Roots, Rock & Ready Chicken.’ In addition to prizes from CB Chicken and other sponsors, JN Money will award cash prizes of $100,000, $75,000, and $50,000 to the first, second, and third-place winners, respectively.
Cedrica Reid, Marketing and Sales Manager at JN Money, anticipates that the financial literacy that the vendors were exposed to at the workshops will boost their business operations long after the competition.
“Providing practical financial education is key to helping pan chicken vendors build sustainable businesses. By teaching them the fundamentals of budgeting, saving, debt management and making informed investment choices, it is our hope that they will be better positioned to grow their operations into successful ventures,” she explained.
Now in its eighth year partnering with CB Chicken on the PAN competition, Ms Reid says JN Money’s support goes beyond sponsorship.
“The workshops are an investment in people, equipping small business operators with the tools to manage their income, strengthen their enterprises, and create opportunities for their families and communities. It’s also a meaningful way of celebrating this aspect of our rich culture,” Ms Reid added.