The Sweetest Journey

There’s something very special about my island home. You can’t help but be happy when you’re surrounded year round by sun, sand and sea. My childhood was filled with great food memories, and summer was always the best part. All the Jamaican fruit were in season and I looked forward to indulging in mangoes by the bucket load and the sweetest pineapples imaginable. There’s never a need to force a Jamaican child to have fruit; not when they taste so good.

As I transitioned into adulthood, I took pride in giving my goddaughter both fruit and candy; (because what’s life without balance?) One day I gave her a blue raspberry candy and her quizzical expression after reading the wrapper sent me down the rabbit hole of entrepreneurship.

You see, with all the fruit varietals in Jamaica, we don’t have raspberries. And we certainly don’t have blue raspberries. I wondered where were the candies in the fruit flavors she already knew and loved like guava and pomegranate. Having searched high and low in Jamaica, I discovered we were importing almost all of the candy consumed on the island.

I resigned my corporate job to make candy in Jamaica my goddaughter could recognize; and four years later, here I am. I own and operate Jamaica’s only commercial candy company. We aim to satisfy the sweet tooth of Caribbean people and Caribbean people at heart.

It’s been an enjoyable journey. Experimenting with textures and flavors and seeing the faces of children light up when they guess the flavor of the candy they are eating. It’s been fun to open the factory doors for school tours and family visits, showing people how Jamaica’s only candy gets made. And of course they get to taste.
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Starting my candy company, Sweetie, I feel embodies exactly who we are as Jamaicans:-

1. We problem solve. We have a keen eye for gaps and can fill those gaps with ingenious income generating solutions. We believe “it can be done, and I can do it”.
2. We celebrate Jamaican-ness. We have a keen sense of identity and we use every opportunity to celebrate and promote the things that make up our unique DNA

If every you’re in Jamaica, come stop by my sweet spot on the island.

- Patria-Kaye

Patria-Kaye Aarons CEO, Sweetie

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