BASETTERRE, St. Kitts – THE American Bakery, which falls under the Amory Group of Companies, is now celebrating its 65th anniversary with a week of promotional activities.
Speaking with SKNVibes Business, Co-Owner of Amory Enterprise, Ernest Armory said his company has made strides to provide quality service, over the years to its valued customers. He added that the customer has been the key to the business success since its inception in 1949.
History of the Business and expansion
In an exclusive sit-down interview with this agency the younger of the two Amory brothers reflected on how the business was started, noting that his father was the driving force behind the business and its success. The business was the brain child of the late Ashton Amory.
“He started in his own words: with five pounds of flour as he was from Phillips but in those days you made bread by hand and he baked them in a stone oven. He started with one customer and grew. As he started to expand he moved to the Basseterre area to bake his bread and there he got involved with my mother whose mother had a shop selling little pastries and items of that nature. It was located on the Cayon and Church Street where Singer is located.”
Ernest explained that after his father got married to his wife Ursula, he expanded the business to its current location.
“He further expanded the business and established himself and most people would remember that area where the bakery was first established on the corner of Cayon and Church Street. He operated at that location up until 1973 and from there he moved over to Victoria Road which was a bigger property. Actually they built this property.
“He saw the need to expand. As I can recall, one day he went to the bakery and threw in the bags of flour perhaps two or three bags of flour and he was waiting for the bakers to show up for work and the bakers didn’t show up so he himself had to make the bread by hand .”
New avenues for business
The business ventured into new avenues and as it expanded, the senior Amory went abroad to acquire equipment after being turned down by several local lending institutions.
“He went to the bank to borrow some money and the bank would not lend him the money, that’s Barclays Bank. And they told him that they cannot lend him, after that he went to Puerto Rico on his own and he did not know where he was going.”
After venturing to Puerto Rico and acquiring new equipment, it opened new avenues for the business as it allowed to bakery to increase its output.
“After one year, my output moved from seven bags per day to 700 bays per month with that averaging 29 bags a day; from seven bags a day to 29 a day from 1963 to1967. I was the biggest importer of flour in St. Kitts and Nevis and this all came from an idea. If young people want to make it they would have to think and think hard,” Ernest noted.
Today the bakery sells hundreds of bags of bread and pastries per month.
Currently the bakery is being managed by two qualified bakers who have Degrees in Baking Management.
“I decided to get qualified and I went back to study and I went to Oklahoma State University and that is one of the few universities which offers a degree in Baking Management. It also offers Baking Technology and Practical Baking and my brother Reggie also went to the same university.”
Bringing politicians together to stop the fighting
Over the years the Armory Enterprise has been reaching out to politicians and trying to have the likes of Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas and then leader of the People Action Movement (PAM) Lindsay Grant shake hands and smile at one of their recent anniversary celebrations along with the first Prime Minister of the Federation, the Rt. Hon. Sir. Kennedy A. Simmonds.
Armory diversifies
Armory Enterprise was hit by the recent economic crisis affecting the world along with several hotel chains in the Federation. This was coupled with the competitive prices that the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel offered.
“Seven hotels, including ours, had to be closed due to the bad economy. We have invested heavily in real estate and the Armory Enterprises now consists of the Fun Palace Casino, the American Bakery, Rips and Rolls, Armory Premium Ice-cream, [and] the Armory Real Estate where we have several properties for commercial rental and residential rental. We also have a frame shop where we produce frames of all types and we have a craft shop which produce crafts from local products.”
Community Service
One of the major boosts for the company is giving back to the community and the country. Ernest revealed that they have assisted in many small and large scale ventures which have gone a far way to assist the company. One such is the assistance they gave to the Taiwanese people in 2009, when that island was hit by Typhoon Morakot. The donation amounted to some $3000.
The anniversary which is usually celebrated for one day on February 17, is being celebrated for a week which began on the 17th and runs through to February 22, while an incentive for shoppers is a 25 percent mark down on products throughout the individual stores.
