Michelle and Herbert Chong, the founders behind the retail pastry business Swirls, have sold their shares in the business to Honey Bun.

The move marks a significant milestone, as Honey Bun — a company they co-founded in 1982 and nurtured from a small retail bakery into a powerhouse with over $3 billion in annual revenues — continues its expansion in the bakery industry.

The incorporation of the new business is expected to improve the operational efficiency of Swirls since it will benefit from back-end services of Honey Bun. For Honey Bun, the acquisition creates a pathway into the freshly baked fast food segment of the retail market.

Honey Bun’s business model allows consumers to purchase its products both in wholesale and retail trade, but it currently does not support fresh-baked and dine-in options.

“It was always an independent business, but we feel that there is an opportunity for Honey Bun to expand into the retail business because Swirls utilises a lot of the ingredients that Honey Bun uses. We want to grow that retail business,” Michelle Chong, CEO of Honey Bun, told the Jamaica Observer.

Swirls, which operates from a single location in the transportation centre on Eastwood Park Road in St Andrew offers freshly prepared products such as cinnamon swirls, cheese swirls, pizza swirls, hot dog swirls which can be paired with cheddar cheese, cream cheese and jalapeño pepper toppings.

It also serves fries, jerk chicken, chicken ham and tuna sandwiches as well as coffee, smoothies and beverages. The business primarily caters to on-the-go consumers seeking quick breakfast, lunch, or dinner options.

“It’s a unique product but the problem is that, it is in the transport centre would know it but other people wouldn’t know it,” Chong said, adding that the retail food business has been doing well and that there are plans to expand the number of Swirls outlet as part of the development of the business.

“It [has] done very well on its own and even without our deep management, it has done fairly well,” she said.

The cost to acquire Swirls was not disclosed.

Once integrated into Honey Bun’s business, Swirls’ image will be updated as well as investments will be made into the acquisition of new production machines and equipment. The budget for that was also not disclosed; however, Chong said that Swirls will largely pay for its own development works.

“There is a lot of work to be done. We have to improve on the product because when we just opened it was great, but over time it has fallen off a bit and so we want to get back to that. We have to change out our oven, and redesign the store to update the look and feel,” Chong said.

To expedite that process, Honey Bun has recruited a general manager who is expected to come up with fresh ideas to boost the image, product and service offering of the fast food establishment. Management also has to make decisions about where the second Swirls outlet will be located. What’s certain for now is that it will be in Kingston.

“We will be exploring all the high foot traffic areas across Jamaica before we decide where those outlets will be. In the same way that Honey Bun is right across Jamaica, that is what we want for Swirls. But, right now [we] are looking for another location in Kingston, and then we will look at other busy towns,” Chong said.

Honey Bun’s acquisition of the fast food pastry joint comes just months after the company announced that it will be setting up a new factory in Angels, St Catherine. The company, which has seen significant growth over the past few years owing to the introduction of Shorty Bread, is also actively working to expand the number of retail outlets islandwide.