KINGSTON, Jamaica- Holiday preparations can have you in the kitchen for hours but Karley’s Dawta owner says her fruitcake mix will give you the same Christmas taste in half the time.

Kimone Leon, owner of Karley’s Dawta, says the idea to start her own cake mix came from cooking with her mother.

“We would bake together every Christmas and fruitcake was one of our favourite things to bake,” stated Leon.

Leon shares that out of all her sisters she has always been the one mostly drawn towards cooking and her mother would encourage her interest in the culinary arts.

“Every time I wanted to experiment with something food-wise, she was the mother who would go and purchase it for me to do what I want to do. So she was supportive in that regard, you know, but we were always in the kitchen, both of us cooking for the entire day,” Leon explained.

Leon says her mother’s passing in 2019 was very sad but “my sister and I, we decided that we are going to start a business and we’re going to name the business to honour our mother. So, hence I came up with Karley’s Dawta,” she shared in reference to her late mother Karlene Leon.

“I started out in my kitchen to be honest and I had friends and family tasting the product, you know, giving me feedback but then I said I want to go on the market so I decided to approach SRC (Scientific Research Council). SRC did the formulation for me and also they have been producing it ever since. But to be honest, I was trying to do my own marketing, do my own little everything to get this business off the ground but thanks to Observer, it has brought brand awareness and as such sales are coming in. So now I need to just take it to another level where I am available in supermarkets because currently I’m operating online.”

But with Jamaicans mainly taking a traditional approach when it comes to cooking and baking how has this venture been received?

Leon says “So nowadays, you know, we are working, working, working, so we want convenience and it still captures the traditional fruit cake, that taste, the smell, the aroma is very good.”

In addition to honouring her mother, Leon wants to start a foundation for teachers. Leon follows in the footsteps of her late mother who was a teacher and strongly believes in helping and giving back to educators who are often overlooked.

“I remember my mother, she went through a lot of pain but yet you still have to show up at work.I’m a teacher myself and I realised that teachers, the job is very stressful and yet sometimes we are not recognised. So I decided that when the business takes off, I want to start a foundation that gives back to teachers,” said Leon.

Leon has plans to “expand doing other treats, but it’s going to be a Jamaican product, but not necessarily for Christmas. I realised that we have a lot of local farmers, so I’m trying to come up with recipes or products that I can source locally from the farmers. We have a lot of sweet potatoes, pineapples, so I’m thinking along that line about what I can expand in. I have ideas already, but you know, I’ll work on them for the new year.”

With plans for expansion in the new year Leon is thankful for the success she has had so far and the support of her family and friends.

“I want to say if you have lost someone, sometimes it’s good to hold on to the happy memories. Use that to comfort you instead of leaning towards depression. Sometimes it’s easier said than done, but that’s what I do. I’ll have my moments where I break down but on another note, I hold on to the happy memories.”