Don’t ever think you can put Gary “Butch” Hendrickson on the spot by asking him which of the 78 baked products made by his National Baking Company is his favourite.

“White hard dough bread, man,” was his unhesitating reply when the

Jamaica Observer put the question to him in a recent interview.

“ Look, you know what heaven is? A cold Red Stripe light, a National hard dough bread and some really, really good jerk pork. There’s no better,” Hendrickson said with a smile and gaze suggesting he was imagining himself enjoying the treat he had just described.

He admitted, though, that in recent weeks he has had to make an adjustment in his consumption of his beloved hard dough bread.

“I probably used to eat a loaf a week, now I break the slice in half and eat half, and about five minutes later when ah can’t tek it, ah go eat the other half, when I shouldn’t,” he explained, this time with a mischievous chuckle.

Although

Caribbean Business Report did not ask, Hendrickson offered that his second favourite product is “Bran hard dough”, then added: “If you ask about my favourite snacks, on the slice side, the multi-grain, just from the amount of grain that it has in it, when I eat it, it is a hearty slice a bread, is a good slice a bread,” he said.

“I’m very proud about it because it’s a propriety mix that we developed in here. Lots of hits and misses, and now it’s done for us by the Flour Mills. I’m very proud that we’ve done it here.”

— Vernon Davidson