Chef Wayne Sharpe’s journey from a shy student at Tarrant High School in Kingston, Jamaica, to co-owner of Mangrove, Miami’s top-rated Caribbean restaurant in Downtown Miami, reads like a testament to culinary vision and perseverance.
The 53-year-old chef has transformed his natural cooking abilities into Mangrove, an upscale Jamaican restaurant that challenges perceptions about Caribbean cuisine in one of America’s most competitive dining markets.
Sharpe’s culinary foundation began in his grandmother’s rural kitchen and was nurtured at Tarrant High, where food and nutrition teacher Marva Campbell recognized his talents. “I was a little shy fat kid,” Sharpe recalls of his teenage years. “Marva Campbell said to me one day, ‘Wayne, you can cook.’ And everything took off from there.”
After graduating high school, Sharpe began his professional journey at the Wyndham New Kingston in 1989, working in the Italian restaurant before training at HEART Academy in Runaway Bay. He progressed through Jamaica’s hospitality sector, including positions at Morgan’s Harbour and Versair at Norman Manley International Airport, before seeking opportunities abroad.
Frustrated by what he perceived as a preference for foreign chefs over suitably qualified and experienced locals in the hospitality industry, Sharpe emigrated to the United States. “There was this thing that if you’re not an expat, then you don’t meet the criteria,” he explains, describing how this experience shaped his determination to prove Jamaican cuisine belonged at the highest levels of fine dining.
His career flourished in Atlanta, where he built a reputation for transforming traditional Jamaican dishes into elevated dining experiences. “I’ve always wanted to find ways to present Jamaican food to people that blow their mind,” Sharpe says. “I want you to have an amazing experience when you have my food, and I want you to come back.”
In 2020, Sharpe partnered with entrepreneurs Kavan Burke and Harrison Soffer to launch Jrk!, a fast-casual restaurant with three locations, including Aventura, Downtown Miami, and soon to be in Dadeland. The trio has recently been recognized with the 2025 StarChefs Miami Rising Stars Award.
The success of JrK! inspired the trio to evolve their offering into Mangrove, a sophisticated sit-down restaurant in downtown Miami where Chef Wayne presents a menu that reflects his philosophy of elevated yet still authentic Jamaican cuisine.
“Nobody is going to give you Jamaican food like I’m going to give it to you because of the way I think of it,” Sharpe states.
Mangrove ranks as Miami’s top-rated Caribbean restaurant on Google, building a loyal following in a city where people may not recognize or acknowledge Caribbean cuisine as being a part of the top end of the culinary landscape. “I’ve proven them wrong at every juncture,” says Sharpe.
Mangrove is one of 300 restaurants participating in Miami Spice Restaurant Months, the annual program offering discounted three-course menus at restaurants across Miami and Miami Beach during August and September. “Summer months are usually very, very slow for restaurants in Miami,” Sharpe explains. “Miami Spice now brings traffic to our restaurants in what was traditionally a slow period.”
Miami Spice represents a strategic economic driver for Miami’s tourism industry, which welcomed a record 28 million visitors in 2024, generating $22 billion in spending. “For over two decades, Miami Spice Restaurant Month has been a much-anticipated celebration of Miami’s best restaurants, chefs and culinary creativity,” said David Whitaker, President & CEO of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Through Mangrove and Miami Spice, Chef Wayne Sharpe continues proving that Jamaican cuisine deserves recognition alongside the world’s finest culinary traditions—one perfectly seasoned dish at a time.
