Friday, December 4 - Monday, December 7, 2026
Jamaica Jerk Championship - Exclusive Equity Member Access
Dear Friends,
When we first began talking about Equity Member benefits, the conversation always returned to the same idea: not perks for their own sake, but genuine access to experiences that feel impossible to find anywhere else.
The Jamaica Jerk Championship is exactly that kind of experience.
On Saturday, December 6, The Cliff Hotel & Spa in Negril becomes the stage for what we believe will be the most significant celebration of Jamaican jerk culture ever assembled. Ten of the most talented pitmasters from across the island and the diaspora will compete before a panel of world-class culinary figures, and a national title on the line.
This is not a food festival. It is a championship built on merit, governed by rigorous standards, and designed to establish once and for all what Jamaican jerk deserves to be recognized as on the world stage.
As an Equity Member, you are invited to experience it first. On Monday, July 29th, those rooms and suites not reserved by the Equity Members will be made available to prior guests of The Cliff Hotel, and then to the general public.
Your exclusive access begins at our place in Negril, where you will arrive as you always do, into a place that already feels like home with staff who know your personal preferences. From there, we bring you into the heart of the championship with VIP credentials, reserved access alongside the judging panel, and an evening that culminates in a historic awards ceremony, a live concert, and the kind of conversations that only happen when exceptional people gather around something genuinely worth celebrating.
This is the first exclusive benefit we have offered Equity Members.
We look forward to welcoming you home.
Warmest Regards,
George
Co-Founder, The Group
PS. All of the villas have been reserved for the judges and key sponsors, so availability (and access to them) is limited by design.
The Judges
Direct, Personal Access to the Panel
What makes this Equity Member experience unlike any other event weekend is not just your VIP ticket. It is also your seat at the table.
Throughout the Championship weekend, Equity Members will enjoy direct, personal access to the five judges and cultural correspondent assembled for the inaugural Jamaica Jerk Championship. These are not distant celebrities. They are people who, by the nature of this event and the nature of The Group, will be your dining companions, your conversation partners, and by the end of the weekend, your friends.
Chef Rodney Scott is one of the most celebrated pitmasters in American history and only the second pitmaster ever to receive a James Beard Award, earning Best Chef Southeast in 2018. He has been featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table: BBQ, judged five seasons of Food Network’s BBQ Brawl, and published his cookbook Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ. His restaurants span Charleston, Birmingham, Atlanta, and Nashville.
Chef Andrew Black was born and raised in rural Jamaica, forging his culinary career from the island’s resort kitchens through staged placements in European fine dining before building a four-restaurant empire in Oklahoma City anchored by Black Walnut and Grey Sweater. He is the 2023 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Southwest.
Chef Andre Fowles grew up in Kingston, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and earned recognition as a three-time Chopped champion and semifinalist on Chopped: Grand Champions. He has cooked at the James Beard House. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Food and Wine, and Bon Appetit. His debut cookbook, My Jamaican Table, was published in March 2026 with a foreword by Bruce Springsteen.
Chef Nicola Blaque was born in Jamaica, trained at the Culinary Institute of America, and opened The Jerk Shack in San Antonio, which was named one of America’s 16 best new restaurants in its first year and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand. She is a James Beard nominee and one of the most compelling voices in Jamaican and Caribbean cuisine working in the United States today.
Chef Dae Kim trained at three-Michelin-starred Per Se before opening Nōksu, his Korean-inspired fine dining restaurant in New York City, which earned a Michelin star in its first year, making him the youngest chef in NYC history to do so — a milestone chronicled on Apple TV in the debut episode of Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars. Then he did it again the following year, when he turned 30. His fluency across Korean, French, Chinese, and Japanese culinary traditions makes him one of the most intellectually engaged palates at the table
Author Adrian Miller serves as the championship’s Cultural Correspondent and Master of Ceremonies. A Stanford and Georgetown Law graduate and former White House official under President Clinton, Miller is a two-time James Beard Award winner whose books Soul Food and Black Smoke each took the James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship. He brings an extraordinary depth of cultural and historical context to everything he touches, and his presence alone makes the weekend something worth witnessing.
For those of you who invested in this vision, December in Negril will be something more than an event. It will be a milestone.
When we closed on The Cliff last July, the vision was clear: to build the premier luxury property in Jamaica, one that serves our lifestyle community at the highest level while earning its place among the finest resorts in the country. The Jamaica Jerk Championship is one of several initiatives we are launching over the next year to do exactly that, drawing press, media, and international attention to a property you helped make possible. Come and see what we are building together. The best of it is still ahead.
SCHEDULE
Thursday, December 3, 2026
Load-In & Set-Up Day
Private Arrival & Check-In | 4:00 PM
Thursday is the day the property comes to life behind the scenes, with production crews, staging teams, and vendors completing the final build across The Cliff’s grounds ahead of Friday morning’s readiness deadline. Equity members are warmly welcomed to arrive a day early, settle into their accommodations, and enjoy the property entirely on their own terms before the weekend’s programming begins. The cliffs are yours, the sea pool is waiting, the bar is open, and there is no itinerary to follow. A dedicated concierge team will be on hand to handle your arrival, orient you to the property, and ensure everything is in place for the days ahead.
Concierge Arrival Service via Club Mobay, and private car service to and from Sangster International Airport is included as an Equity Member benefit, making your arrival as seamless as everything that follows.
Friday, December 4, 2026
Arrival Day
Breakfast on Your Own | 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Friday morning at The Cliff belongs entirely to you. The property is fully set, the campus is quiet, and the weekend has not yet begun in earnest. Take breakfast at your own pace, walk the grounds, and spend a few unhurried hours in one of the most beautiful settings in Jamaica before the afternoon’s programming draws everyone together. These are the hours that tend to go unscheduled on the itinerary and unrepeated in memory.
VIP Welcome Lunch | 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
The weekend opens at the table. A hosted midday gathering for equity members, judges, and invited guests, the Welcome Lunch introduces the flavors and spirit of the championship before a single dish has been judged. Expect Jamaican ingredients prepared at a high level, Rum & Rosé pairings curated by our sommelier, and the kind of first conversations that tend to carry through the rest of the weekend.
Official Arrival & Check-In | 4:00 PM
Friday at 4:00 PM marks the official start of the championship weekend and the beginning of the three-night event minimum for all guest reservations. Guests arriving on Friday will be welcomed with the same dedicated concierge arrival experience, private airport transfers, and personal orientation that make the arrival feel like the first moment of something worth remembering.
Sunset Rum & Rosé Reception | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
As the afternoon gives way to evening, guests gather for a lead sponsor reception featuring premium Jamaican rums and a curated rosé selection. With the Caribbean Sea stretching out in front of you and the sun beginning its descent, this is the natural rhythm break between the hustle of arrival and a relaxed dinner, and one of those moments that tends to go longer than planned.
Championship Founders Dinner | 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
The most intimate event of the weekend is also the first. The Founders Dinner brings together equity members, judges, key partners, and VIP guests for a multi-course seated dinner designed entirely around storytelling and connection. There is no agenda beyond great food and the kind of conversation that only happens when the right people are in the same room. For those of you who invested in The Cliff and, by extension, in this Championship, this dinner is where you will feel the full weight of what you helped build.
Saturday, December 5, 2026
Championship Day
Breakfast on Your Own | 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM
The morning begins quietly, with the property at its most beautiful in the early light and the full campus dressed and ready for the day ahead. Breakfast is available from 7:00 AM, and the hour before gates open is one of the better-kept secrets of the weekend: the grounds are yours, the coffee is hot, and the calm that precedes a historic day has its own particular quality.
Gates Open — The Jerk Experience | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
At 9:00 AM the gates open and Championship Day begins. Equity members have unrestricted access to every programming track running simultaneously across the property, including the Heritage Forum where Adrian Miller leads cultural and historical conversations about jerk’s Maroon origins, the Fire & Craft Pavilion where Rodney Scott and Mibrasa demonstrate live-fire technique, the Rosé House where Marika Vida hosts guided tastings and pairings throughout the day, the main demonstration stage featuring competing chefs, and the sponsor village showcasing Jamaican-made spirits, spices, and artisan products that meet the championship’s standard. Running alongside all of it, the Championship itself unfolds in two judged sessions: Round 1 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and Round 2 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, with the panel deliberating in private as the public program continues. Move freely, linger where you want, and return as many times as you like.
Golden Hour — VIP Programming Begins | 4:45 PM
At 4:00 PM the ticketed event closes and the general public departs. Security clears the property, the energy shifts, and at 4:45 PM the evening begins exclusively for those with VIP credentials. With peak sunset photography at 5:15 PM, this window between the championship day and the evening program is one of the most photographed and quietly celebrated moments of the entire weekend.
VIP Cocktail Reception | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Equity members and VIP guests gather at the Founders Club on the Helipad for a pre-dinner cocktail reception as the sun finishes its descent over the Caribbean. This is the natural gathering moment before the evening’s formal programming begins, and the setting alone makes it worth being on time for.
Championship Awards Dinner | 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
The evening’s formal program opens on the Wedding Lawn with the Championship Awards Dinner, a seated dining experience that sets the stage for the ceremony to follow. The judges, competitors, equity members, and VIP guests come together at the table before the results are revealed, in a moment designed to honor the gravity of what is about to happen.
Championship Awards Ceremony | 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The main stage comes to life for the moment the entire weekend has been building toward. Five awards are presented: Champion, Reserve Champion, People’s Choice, Best Traditional Expression, and Best Innovation. Each title represents a standard that did not exist before this night, and equity members hold reserved positioning at the front of the room for all of it.
Headline Roots Reggae Performance | 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM
The championship closes with a live performance by a headline roots reggae artist on the main stage. With the awards behind you, the Caribbean night overhead, and 120 of the right people in the room, this is the celebration the weekend earned.
Event Conclusion | 11:00 PM
Sunday, December 6, 2026
The Morning After
Sunday Brunch | 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
The full weekend community gathers one final time at The Cliff for a relaxed, unhurried brunch with judges, competitors, partners, and VIP guests. There is no program, no stage, and no agenda. The weekend has already delivered everything it promised, and this is the natural place to let it settle.
Pool Party & Chef Demonstrations | 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
For equity members and VIP hotel guests remaining on property, the afternoon opens into something entirely its own. A DJ sets the tone poolside while the grill stays lit and one or two of our international judges step away from their credentials for a few hours to cook for the room simply because they want to. This is the weekend unwinding on its own terms.
Private Sunset Reception | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
As the afternoon gives way to evening, equity members and on-property VIP guests gather for a private sunset reception exclusive to those who made The Cliff their home for the weekend. With the production breakdown underway across the grounds and the property returning to itself, this moment feels like something between a celebration and a quiet acknowledgment of what was just accomplished together.
Equity Member & Hotel Guest Farewell Dinner | 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The Cliff — On Property
For the equity members and on-property VIP guests who have been here since the beginning, the final dinner is less a farewell than a continuation. The championship is behind you, the sunset reception has done its work, and what remains is time at the table with the people you spent the weekend alongside. This dinner belongs to the people that helped make The Cliff what it is and witnessed firsthand what it is becoming. It is unhurried, it is private, and it will feel exactly like the closing chapter of a weekend worth returning for.
Chefs Farewell Dinner | 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Villa 5 – Judges Only
While the evening belongs to the broader group elsewhere on the property, the chef’s along with Adrian Miller will gather privately in Villa 5 for a dinner that is entirely their own.
This is a table of people who have just presided over something meaningful, and the conversation they will have together is not one that happens in public. The purpose of the evening is simple: to make sure every person at that table leaves already looking forward to coming back. The 2027 Championship begins this night
The Cliff Bar | 9:00 PM – Until
Open to Equity Members, Hotel Guests & Judges Panel
The weekend finds its natural ending at The Cliff Bar, where all are welcome to gather for a final nightcap on their own terms. A full cocktail menu is available, and the bar is open as long as the company keeps it that way. This is not a hosted event and there is no open bar. It is simply the right place to be at the end of a weekend like this one, with the right people, and nowhere else to be until morning.
Monday, December 7, 2026
Departure Day
Breakfast on Your Own | 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Monday morning is unhurried by design. Take breakfast at your own pace, walk the grounds one more time, and let the weekend settle before the journey home begins. The Cliff at this hour, with the event behind you and the Caribbean still in front of you, is worth lingering over.
Airport Departures | 12:00 PM
Check-out is at 12 noon, and complimentary private car service to Sangster International Airport is included for all equity members as part of your weekend package. Transfers are coordinated through the concierge and scheduled around your flight, so there is nothing to arrange and nothing to worry about.
That said, if the week ahead can wait and the property is calling you to stay a little longer, we are not going to be the ones to rush you out.
Tuesday, Dec 9 - Thursday, Dec 11, 2026
Extend Your Stay
The property is yours if you want it.
Equity Members and Hotel Guests are welcome to extend their stay through Thursday morning and continue enjoying The Cliff at their own pace as the property returns to its standard European Plan, with meals and beverages available on a per-item basis. While the energy of the weekend will begin to dissipate, the staff will still know your name, and the Caribbean Sea will still be exactly where you left it.
We do ask that all guests depart by Thursday morning, as a private three-night wedding buyout of the full property begins Thursday evening. For those of you keeping score at the investment level, that is exactly the kind of news we hoped to be delivering as we near our one-year anniversary.
Jamaica Defines The Standard
The standard belongs where the culture began.
Jerk did not need a passport. It left Jamaica in the hands of people who carried their food, their fire, and their knowledge with them, and it spread to every corner of the world with the same quiet confidence with which it was created. Walk through any major city in North America or the United Kingdom today and you will find jerk on menus, in food halls, on grocery store shelves, and in the names of restaurants that have never seen a pimento tree. The reach of the culture is extraordinary. The problem is that the further jerk traveled from its origin, the more loosely the word got applied. Other kitchens began setting the terms. Other voices began telling the story. The culture traveled. The standard did not always travel with it.
For Jamaica and for Jamaicans, that matters deeply. Jerk is not a flavor profile or a cooking style that belongs to whoever wants to claim it. It is a tradition rooted in the ingenuity and survival of the Maroons, the free Africans who escaped slavery and built a way of life in the mountains of Jamaica long before the country had a name. The fire, the pimento, the patience, and the method are not incidental. It is on every roadside, in every family kitchen, and at every gathering across the island. What has never existed, until now, is a formal standard set on Jamaican soil that tells the rest of the world what excellence actually looks like. That authority has been left unclaimed, and in the absence of it, other kitchens and other voices have been happy to fill the space.
The Jamaica Jerk Championship changes that.
This December, at The Cliff in Negril, a panel of the most respected culinary judges in the world will evaluate the craft of jerk cooking against a standard defined in Jamaica, governed by Jamaicans, and awarded on Jamaican ground. The result will be a title, a record, and a declaration that carries the full weight of the culture behind it. For Jamaicans at home and across the diaspora, this is a moment of genuine pride. The country that created jerk is taking back authorship. That is not a marketing position. It is a correction that is long overdue. But the significance does not stop at the shoreline.
You invested in a property. What you are watching take shape is something larger: a destination with a reason to exist in the minds of travelers who have never heard of it, and an experience compelling enough to make them book a flight. The Championship is the first of several initiatives designed to draw international press, media attention, and a category of traveler who spends well, stays longer, and comes back. The guests attending the Championship will not forget where they stayed. The journalists who cover it will not forget the property that hosted it. And for the many attendees who know Negril primarily through its more familiar offerings, this weekend will be their first opportunity to experience The Cliff and understand immediately what sets it apart. And, for the judges who leave already talking about Year 2, they are simply the most credible ambassadors a luxury resort in Jamaica can have.
You believed in this before any of it existed. What you are coming to witness in December is what that belief looks like as it becomes real.
#Respect the Jerk. Honor Jamaica.
INCLUDED WITH ALL ROOMS, SUITES & VILLAS:
- Complimentary private ground transportation to and from MBJ
- Complimentary Internet access in all guest rooms
- Complimentary VIP concierge arrival service
- Complimentary turn-down service nightly
- Nightly Cocktail Receptions & Dinners
- Sunday Pool Party
- All Portage Fees
- Breakfast Daily
"PAY NOW" OPTIONS:
- Affirm
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- ACH Direct Debit
- Auto-Bill Monthly Payments
- Pay-By-Phone @ 843-817-2789
- Link by Stripe: One-Click Payments
- Visa, Mastercard, American Express & Discover
FOR COUPLES
Thursday - Monday
5 Day / 4 NightsTwo Double Beds
5,030
Deluxe King
5,110
Jr. Suite
6,249
1 Bedroom Suite w/Butler
8,070
1 Bedroom Suite w/Pool & Butler
9.426
Friday - Monday
4 Days / 3 NightsTwo Double Beds
4,035
Deluxe King
4,095
Jr. SUite
4,947
1 Bedroom Suite w/Butler
6,315
1 Bedroom Suite w/Pool & Butler
7,342
Friday - Thusday
7 Days / 6 NightsTwo Double Beds
5,820
Deluxe King
5,940
Jr. Suite
7,644
1 Bedroom Suite w/Butler
10,380
1 Bedroom Suite w/Pool & Butler
12,414
FOR SINGLES
Thursday - Monday
5 Days / 4 NightsTwo Double Beds
3,980
Deluxe King
4,060
Jr. Suite
5,196
Friday - Monday
4 Days / 3 NightsTwo Double Beds
3,285
Deluxe King
3,345
Jr. Suite
4,197
Friday - Thursday
7 Days / 6 NightsTwo Double Beds
5,070
Deluxe King
5,190
Jr. Suite
6,894
TERMS OF SERVICE & CANCELLATION CLAUSE
All payments are non-refundable, and trip insurance is strongly advised. If you wish to cancel, we will consider your request. We may provide partial credit for some of your payment (trip insurance does not get refunded), minus a processing fee, at our sole discretion, considering many factors, including when you are canceling. We also may offer you, again at our sole discretion, the ability to transfer your payment to one of our future trips or dinners minus a transfer fee to be determined by us at that time. Again, trip insurance is strongly advised.