Jamaica Biscuit Company, which manufactures Excelsior water crackers, has expanded its portfolio to include the manufacturing of Kiss Cakes.

Operations Manager of the Kiss Cakes plant, Rory Mitchell, told the Jamaica Observer that the company now seeks to provide employment for an additional 100 people once the new facility becomes fully operational.

Kiss cakes, which were originally manufactured in Trinidad and Tobago by Kiss Baking Company, were previously imported to Jamaica and distributed by the Jamaica Biscuit Company, both of which operates under Bermudez Group Ltd.

But the product has been off the shelves of supermarkets for more than a decade leaving a void in the market. That gap was partially plugged when Honeybun launched ‘Goldie’ — a light sponge cake injected with vanilla cream, similar to the Kiss Cakes being produced in Trinidad.

“Kiss Cakes are now manufactured in Jamaica at a new state-of-the-art facility that was recently completed and is now being fully commissioned. We have over the years had numerous requests for Kiss Cakes from our customers and this encouraged us to make the investment,” Mitchell stated in an e-mailed response to the Business Observer.

He added that the company began commercial production of Kiss Cakes at the beginning of the year and at present is running at 20 per cent of the plant’s capacity.

The facility was also sized to allow for the export of Kiss Cakes made in Jamaica to the United States.

It’s one of the markets that Jamaica Biscuits is already exporting Excelsior crackers to satisfy the demand of Jamaicans in the diaspora. Other markets for the crackers include Europe and the Caribbean.

Jamaica Biscuits also manufactures Excelsior cheese crunchies, animal crackers, smoothies sandwich cream, Bran & Oats and Excelsior Snackers snack crackers. The company, which was founded in 1911, now has more than 500 employees.