4 months ago
17
Bakery company Honey Bun (1982) Limited, having acquired the Swirls brand from its founders, is branching out into fast food, specifically, as a sandwich shop.
The company has a plan for five Swirls shops in three years. It will operate as a separate segment of the bakery company, said Honey Bun CEO Michelle Chong.
“It’s a business I’ve owned for a number of years now and I’ve not had the time to do with it what I’d really like to, so what is happening is that Honey Bun has bought it and they will be expanding the business,” she said.
Swirls has been operating at a single location, the Kingston transportation centre in Half Way Tree, Kingston, since 2016, but is only known by commuters.
“They make sandwiches, and they’ve been doing that for a number of years, but only the people persons who take the bus know about it,” Chong told the Financial Gleaner.
Now with its June 1 takeover by Honey Bun, the business is to be integrated into the operations of Honey Bun with plans “to enhance its product portfolio, offering a wider variety of baked goods and meals to meet the growing consumer demand”, the company said in JSE filings.
Chong said a manager has been identified but said the female tapped for the position would not be named at this time.
The new manager will be charged with building out the business, establishing at least five locations in key towns across Jamaica. The investment in the fast-food business, including new shops and equipment in strategic locations, will be around $50 million to $100 million over the two- to three-year buildout period.
“It’s not going to be different. They will pretty much do what they’re doing now, but what we’ll do is to expand it to other major towns,” Chong said of the Swirls expansion programme.
Its popular sandwiches will remain on the menu, and the entire business will be upgraded, Chong said.
“It can have the attention that it needs because it’s a very good concept,” she added.
Honey Bun, which does more than $3 billion in annual sales, itself has 12 locations from which it distributes the baked goods it makes and is still in the process of expansion to major towns, said Chong. But that will be additional to the capex programme for Swirls, she said.
“The retail shops are a different brand and a different concept, very different,” Chong said.
The price that Honey Bun paid to its founders, CEO Michelle Chong and Chairman Herbert Chong, for Swirls, was not disclosed.
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