OUR STORY

The publicly traded wholesale bakery that is the Honey Bun that Jamaicans love and enjoy, started out as a retail bakery that Michelle Chong and her husband Herbert purchased in 1982.

With only 12, employees, at the time, it was located in what was then Spanish Court Plaza on St Lucia Avenue in New Kingston. It was a bold move for the Chongs, who have never operated a business before. Their roster of products then included pizza, lobster patties, plantain tarts, as well as exotic French pastry such as cream horn, and other tasty treats.

The bakery later found a home in Premier Plaza before moving to Tropical Plaza into the location that was once the home of Oriental Restaurant. The Chongs decided to add ‘restaurateurs’ to their titles, adding a restaurant to the location – Wings and Ribs.

Honey Bun’s transformation into what it is today began in the economic crisis of the 1990s. With the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, the Chongs made the bold move to expand into wholesale. They took what was then their best selling product- donuts and moved to a larger space at 9C Retirement Road. Jamaica had a huge donut market at the time, with only one other supplier in the market. The Chongs introduced themselves to the existing donut vendors, and convinced them to start selling Honey Bun donuts as well. Demand soared, and the vendors would turn up at the bakery from as early as 5 a.m. jostling to get their orders in.

As business grew they needed a larger space and moved to 85 East Street, Kingston which today still houses a Honey Bun outlet.

Soon donuts were accompanied by cupcakes and a night shift had to be added to meet the demand. The very popular Cinnamon Roll followed in 2000, with the Chongs constantly innovating, they became among the first in the island to have a seal and press machine, with their products in single-sealed printed packaging.

Currently shipping products to the Caribbean, US and England, their first foray into the export market came in 1996. The popularity of the Jamaican fruit cake during Christmas gave birth to Buccaneer Jamaica Fruit cake. After perfecting her recipe, Michelle’s fruit cakes were sealed in plastic, placed in a gold tin and a calico bag tied with a straw. When that item proved too seasonal, they added rum cake to the Buccaneer line. Today that line also consists of the very popular pocket-size rum cakes in three flavours – original, coconut and fruit.

In 2004 Honey Bun moved to its current location at 26 Retirement Crescent, becoming publicly listed on the Jamaica Junior Stock Exchange in 2011, and HACAP certified in 2016 – the first Jamaican bakery with that distinction.

The expansion continued with the company acquiring 22 Retirement Crescent and then 24, which was once the location of the legendary Joe Gibbs recording studio. This added 11,500 square feet to their existing facility in 2018.

Today, Honey Bun boosts over 400 employees with over 40 products under the brand. They are constantly expanding and improving their products as they fulfil their vision of ‘Making life delicious for everyone”.