Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill
Encyclopedia
Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill is a Jamaican
, West Indian and Caribbean cuisine
fast food
chain based in the Bronx
, New York
. The parent company is owned by immigrants from Jamaica
, and the stores are franchise
d. There are 120 Golden Krust restaurants in almost a dozen states including Florida
, Maryland
, North Carolina
, and Massachusetts
.
The company also distributes food products to retailers, and is the largest producer of Caribbean style baked products in the U.S. and considered the foremost Jamaican business in the U.S. It is also "the only company that makes and distributes nine varieties of Jamaican-style patties."
Golden Krust's origins trace back to a 50-year-old bakery
owned by Ephraim Hawthorne in St. Andrews, Jamaica, that serves "family recipes". Ephraim's son Lowell Hawthorne is Golden Krust's chief executive and opened the first U.S. restaurant in 1989 on Gun Hill Road
in the Bronx. A devoted following of West Indian immigrants in the region established a devoted following.
s, steamed yam
s, and curried meat dishes. Items served include callaloo
(Caribbean greens) and ackee
, a savory yellow fruit. They are also known for coconut breads, cakes and traditional dense white breads, called hardough breads. Bulla cakes, duck bread, rock cake
, gizzada
and carrot cake
are also served.
In 1998 the company produced 25 million flaky burnt-orange patties on assembly lines at its main facility. The restaurants do a lot of take-out business, as the patties are portable, and also distributes to supermarkets in 30 states. Offerings include beef patty, vegetable patty, spicy beef and cheese patty, soy patty, oxtail
, curried goat, brown stew chicken, roti
filled with curried meat or vegetables, and "coco" bread.
The chain started out serving Caribbean immigrants, but customers now include white Americans and tourists. The type of food served is "becoming more and more familiar to Americans thanks to holidays they take in Aruba
, Jamaica, or Trinidad and Tobago
, or through meeting at work people from these islands and others." There are plans to open an additional 250 stores over the next five years in the U.S., Europe
, Canada
, and the Caribbean.
Barbadian
singer Rihanna
visits the "Caribbean fast food spot." Jamaica
's ambassador to the United States was present for the opening of the chain's fifth store in Atlanta, Georgia
. Offerings include nine varieties of Jamaican patties. Core customers come from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados
, and Haiti
.
pizza
slice, Jewish bagel
, and the Chinese noodle. The company uses a rising sun logo
and has a city contract to serve lunches to prison inmates and schoolchildren. Hawthorne came to New York in 1981 and graduated from Bronx Community College
before working as an accountant with the New York Police Department for nine years. Nine brothers and sisters are involved in the family business.
, whereby everyone pitched in $100 a week to raise start-up money after banks refused them a loan."
, N.Y. "for sale at major supermarkets and warehouse chains, including Costco, Wal-Mart and Pathmark." Darden Restaurants
, owner of Olive Garden
and Red Lobster
, has run a Bahama Breeze
Caribbean-style restaurant chain since 1996.
Jamaican cuisine
Jamaican cuisine includes a mixture of cooking techniques, flavors, spices and influences from the indigenous people on the island, and the Spanish, British, Africans, and Chinese who have inhabited the island. It is also influenced by the crops introduced into the island from tropical Southeast...
, West Indian and Caribbean cuisine
Caribbean cuisine
Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of African, Amerindian, British, Spanish, French, Dutch, Indian, and Chinese cuisine. These traditions were brought from the many homelands of this region's population...
fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
chain based in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The parent company is owned by immigrants from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, and the stores are franchise
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...
d. There are 120 Golden Krust restaurants in almost a dozen states including Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, and Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
The company also distributes food products to retailers, and is the largest producer of Caribbean style baked products in the U.S. and considered the foremost Jamaican business in the U.S. It is also "the only company that makes and distributes nine varieties of Jamaican-style patties."
Golden Krust's origins trace back to a 50-year-old bakery
Bakery
A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...
owned by Ephraim Hawthorne in St. Andrews, Jamaica, that serves "family recipes". Ephraim's son Lowell Hawthorne is Golden Krust's chief executive and opened the first U.S. restaurant in 1989 on Gun Hill Road
Gun Hill Road (Bronx)
Gun Hill Road is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The road stretches for 3.5 miles in Woodlawn and Morris Park. Gun Hill Road begins at Stillwell Avenue in Morris Park near the Hutchinson River Parkway exit and comes to an end at the Mosholu Parkway in Woodlawn...
in the Bronx. A devoted following of West Indian immigrants in the region established a devoted following.
Menu
The restaurants serve mild and hot Jamaican patties, jerk chicken, jerk fish, dumplingDumpling
Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...
s, steamed yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
s, and curried meat dishes. Items served include callaloo
Callaloo
Callaloo is a popular Caribbean dish served in different variants in across the Caribbean. The main ingredient is a leaf vegetable, traditionally either amaranth , taro or Xanthosoma. Both are known by many names including callaloo, coco, tannia, bhaaji, or dasheen bush...
(Caribbean greens) and ackee
Ackee
The ackee, also known as the vegetable brain, achee, akee apple or akee is a member of the Sapindaceae , native to tropical West Africa in Cameroon, Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.It is...
, a savory yellow fruit. They are also known for coconut breads, cakes and traditional dense white breads, called hardough breads. Bulla cakes, duck bread, rock cake
Rock cake
A rock cake, also called a rock bun, is a small fruit cake with a rough surface resembling a rock.Rock cakes originated in Great Britain, where they are a traditional teatime treat, but are now popular in many parts of the world...
, gizzada
Gizzada
Gizzada or Gizzarda, also known as pinch-me-round, is a Jamaican cuisine pastry. The tart is made in a small, crunchy, tart shell with a pinched crust and filled with a sweet and spiced coconut filling.-External links:**...
and carrot cake
Carrot cake
Carrot cake is a cake which consists of grated carrots mixed with batter. The carrot softens in the cooking process, and the cake usually has a soft, dense texture...
are also served.
In 1998 the company produced 25 million flaky burnt-orange patties on assembly lines at its main facility. The restaurants do a lot of take-out business, as the patties are portable, and also distributes to supermarkets in 30 states. Offerings include beef patty, vegetable patty, spicy beef and cheese patty, soy patty, oxtail
Oxtail
Oxtail is the culinary name for the tail of cattle. Formerly, it referred only to the tail of an ox or steer, a castrated male. An oxtail typically weighs 2 to 4 lbs. and is skinned and cut into short lengths for sale.Oxtail is a bony, gelatinous meat, and is usually slow-cooked, often stewed or...
, curried goat, brown stew chicken, roti
Roti
Roti is generally a South Asian bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour, that originated and is consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also consumed in parts of the Southern Caribbean, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and...
filled with curried meat or vegetables, and "coco" bread.
West Indian community
The eateries have drawn interest from the West Indian community and have been referred to as the most successful West Indian restaurant chain in the United states Many of its original franchises were opened by nurses, and many stores are opened near hospitals where many workers are West Indian with Caribbean heritage.The chain started out serving Caribbean immigrants, but customers now include white Americans and tourists. The type of food served is "becoming more and more familiar to Americans thanks to holidays they take in Aruba
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
, Jamaica, or Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, or through meeting at work people from these islands and others." There are plans to open an additional 250 stores over the next five years in the U.S., Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and the Caribbean.
Barbadian
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
singer Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...
visits the "Caribbean fast food spot." Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
's ambassador to the United States was present for the opening of the chain's fifth store in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. Offerings include nine varieties of Jamaican patties. Core customers come from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, and Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
.
Corporate growth
The parent company is also involved in the financial services industry. The family running the business hope to add the Jamaican patty to the list of American ethnic fast foods alongside the ItalianItalian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
slice, Jewish bagel
Bagel
A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...
, and the Chinese noodle. The company uses a rising sun logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
and has a city contract to serve lunches to prison inmates and schoolchildren. Hawthorne came to New York in 1981 and graduated from Bronx Community College
Bronx Community College
The Bronx Community College of The City University of New York is a community college in the City University of New York system located in the University Heights neighborhood of The Bronx.- History :...
before working as an accountant with the New York Police Department for nine years. Nine brothers and sisters are involved in the family business.
History
To open its first restaurant, the family pooled $107,000, "using the Jamaican concept of susuSusu (savings)
Susu is an informal means of collecting and saving money through a savings club or partnership as practiced in the Caribbean and by immigrants to the United States from that area...
, whereby everyone pitched in $100 a week to raise start-up money after banks refused them a loan."
Operations
The restaurants do mostly take-out and have limited seating. The decor is decorated in bright "sunny" yellow and orange tiles. Competing patty producers include Tower Isles Frozen Foods in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which sells more than 100,000 patties a day to supermarkets, convenience stores, delis and pizza shops that bake them on site, and Caribbean Food Delights, which makes 250,000 a day at a factory in TappanTappan
Tappan appliances was founded by W.J. Tappan as the Ohio Valley Foundry Company in Bellaire, Ohio in 1881 selling cast-iron stoves door-to-door. The company relocated to Mansfield, Ohio in 1889 and was renamed the Eclipse Stove Company before being renamed the Tappan Stove Company.Tappan claims...
, N.Y. "for sale at major supermarkets and warehouse chains, including Costco, Wal-Mart and Pathmark." Darden Restaurants
Darden Restaurants
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in an unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida, near Orlando. The firm owns several casual dining restaurant chains, most notably Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Red Lobster...
, owner of Olive Garden
Olive Garden
Olive Garden is an American restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in an unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida, near Orlando. Olive Garden operates more than 730 locations globally.- History :The...
and Red Lobster
Red Lobster
Red Lobster is a U.S. chain of seafood restaurants. It also operates in Canada, the UAE and Japan . It is aimed at the mid-level "casual dining" segment of the market...
, has run a Bahama Breeze
Bahama Breeze
Bahama Breeze is an American restaurant specializing in Caribbean-inspired fresh seafood, chicken and steaks, and tropical drinks. Most locations are in suburban retail districts and tourist areas.-Locations:*Florida**Fort Lauderdale Sunrise...
Caribbean-style restaurant chain since 1996.