HONEY Bun Limited is set to begin operations at its new 60,000-square-foot production facility in Angels, St Catherine, before the end of April as it reorganises production across two sites to meet rising demand from both domestic and export markets.

“We’ve now scheduled our plant movement to April,” CEO Michelle Chong told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) last Wednesday. “We’ve actually started to move over certain items to the new plant, and before the end of the month we should be operational.”

The facility is expected to increase production capacity by 150 per cent and improve efficiency across Honey Bun’s wholesale and hotel supply business. It will also support the roll-out of its Swirls quick-service outlets, part of the company’s push into the retail pastry segment.

The company, which is headquartered in Kingston, has been operating from its Retirement Crescent site since inception but demand has long outpaced the location’s footprint. The last major upgrade occurred in 2018 when Honey Bun added 10,000 square feet of space and restructured one of its production lines to accommodate the launch of new products, including the Shorty brand of individually packaged bread.

Now, the move to Angels provides the physical scale needed to take Honey Bun’s manufacturing and product development into a new phase.

Still, the existing Kingston facility won’t be decommissioned. Instead, the company plans to reassign it to specialised production.

“We have our cake production that will remain there. That is in really high demand for export,” Chong told the Jamaica Observer following the AGM. “So, we will be able to purchase new equipment and have a place to put them. We’re going to be expanding our cake production, particularly for export, because our Buccaneer rum cakes do so well in the export market.”

Other lines such as cinnamon rolls and doughnuts will also remain in Kingston, benefiting from increased space as other operations shift out.

“The other lines that will stay there are cinnamon rolls and doughnuts. They will move into the line that we’re moving out, so they will have three times more space,” she said. “The bakery, you need a lot of space for equipment… so we’ll be able to expand on those lines.”

The company is also investing in automated equipment to support growing demand. While the full spend for the development of neither the Angels nor Kingston facility has not been disclosed, Chong told shareholders that most of the build-out at Angels has been funded from internal cash flows, with loan drawdowns only recently starting. The company had budgeted $1 billion towards that expansion.

“We have been financing most of the project out of our cash flow. I think we’ve only now started to draw down on the loan, and we’re almost finished the plant, so we’re very proud of that,” she said.

The bakery company’s aggressive expansion drive has pushed net profit down 11 per cent to $76.9 million for the first quarter of 2025, as rising costs and capital investments strained cash reserves. Honey Bun’s cash holdings dropped 44 per cent to $284.7 million, down from $508 million a year ago.

Chong, however, is optimistic that Honey Bun will get back on track with its performance before the close of the year. The company hopes to hit a new target of $4 billion in annual revenue for 2025.