Countdown to the 27th Staging of the Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards

Principals

Suedi-Ann Hamilton, Founder

Kishauna Armstrong, Co-Founder

A history of the company

Aunt Suedi Foods was birthed from Believe Farms Limited, a farming and distribution company, in March 2026. The founder, Suedi-Ann Hamilton, is a food enthusiast and entrepreneur with every fibre of her being. She combines both her passions to create various food ventures, which she successfully manages to vertically integrate from farming, growing produce, to food processing, making Aunt Suedi Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips and then distributing them to retail outlets throughout Jamaica.

The range of new products

Aunt Suedi Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips are available in two flavours, Original and Barbecue.

Where the ingredients are sourced

Original Flavour – Jamaica

Barbecue Flavour – Jamaica and India

Where the products are currently being sold

General Foods, Liguanea

Sovereign Supermarket, Hope Road

J-WYN Pharmacy, Spaulding, Clarendon

Juice-Up Restaurant, Molynes Road and New Kingston

Master Mac Supermarket, Constant Road and Portmore

We have more stores to come!

The story behind the packaging for the products

We wanted both the original and barbecue flavours of Aunt Suedi Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips to proudly represent Jamaica both locally and abroad; hence, the choice of colours. The black, green and gold have been intentionally used to design the back of the packet to reflect our Jamaican flag.

We made these products because we love food and we grow a lot of sweet potatoes. We had always dreamt of manufacturing food items and so, when there had been a glut of sweet potatoes the idea came to make them into chips to sell both locally and internationally. It is also my passion to contribute to solving one of the problems that Jamaica experiences, which is a low level of manufacturing as we are an island heavily reliant on imports, especially the importation of food and produce.

Our first breakthrough came when we obtained a loan to start manufacturing Aunt Suedi Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips.

The products became available to the public on March 14, 2026.

Our core customers are people of all ages who enjoy eating snacks. The original Aunt Suedi Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips target the health-conscious and patriotic individuals who enjoy eating a good natural snack, whilst the barbecue flavour is for the millennials and younger age groups who appreciate variety and seek chips in different flavours.

The response to the products has been very encouraging. That is the reason why we created our barbecue flavour immediately after launching our original Aunt Suedi Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips.

Our products are successful because they taste good! The packet is beautiful and sends a strong cultural message that Jamaicans will persevere despite all the odds. Aunt Suedi Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips were successfully launched in spite of a catastrophic natural disaster months prior caused by the powerful Category 5 Hurricane Melissa.

We plan to grow the business to become a global conglomerate.

Our major challenge is capital investment to purchase additional machinery and funding for marketing activities. Managing the raw material inventory is not a challenge as we grow our own produce that we need, we export, we distribute locally and we manufacture raw sweet potatoes. We also sell the waste from our farm to pig farmers.

If we knew then what we know now we would not have used the person whom we engaged to ship our container of equipment and machines because we had an unfortunate experience. The person had planned on leaving our entire shipment in the warehouse in China and taking our money. Additionally, we would not have used the supplier in China who sold us non-food grade labels. I should have cancelled the order in its entirety, instead of only taking the labels, when I realised we were being sold a faulty machine.

Jamaicans should support our products because they are delicious! The sweet potatoes are locally grown and made into chips by the hands of Jamaicans. Our company embodies the spirit of hard working Jamaicans across the globe who have big dreams, who aspire and are determined to be more than what we came from.

Our post-Hurricane Melissa message, having given consideration to the importance of food security, sustainability and supporting our local food ecosystem, is that the storm did not break us! It has reminded us that we are our own safety net. So, let us support our local farmers more. We are encouraging the Government of Jamaica to stop importing foods that we already produce because our food security starts by buying and eating local. Our resilience is rooted in our soil and our future is fed by the hands we support today!

Aunt Suedi

E-mail: info@auntsuedifoodsja.com

Tel: 1 876-790-7101, 1 876-327-6777

Food Awards judge Adolph Raynor and guest judge Angelique Beaubrun examine the Aunt Suedi Sweet Potato Chips nutrition facts.(Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Food Awards judge Adolph Raynor tried the Aunt Suedi Barbeque Sweet Potato Chips (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Aunt Suedi Foods Suedi-Ann Hamilton (left) and Kishauna Armstrong present Jamaican Sweet Potato Chips to the judges. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)