Golden Krust officially welcomed customers on Thursday, October 6 to their new location at 50 Route 17K Suite 114 in the Target Plaza with hot food, cold drinks and conversation all around. An official grand opening will be held for the Newburgh location in November.
The origins of Golden Krust began in 1949 in St. Mary Jamaica with Hawthorne & Sons Bakery, which was run by Mavis & Ephraim and their 11 children. In 1989, the Hawthorne children and their families opened the Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery, located 1381 E. Gunhill Road in the Bronx. In 1993, the family purchased property from 172nd Street to Claremont Parkway on Park Avenue in the South Bronx and constructed their manufacturing plant for their goods. In 1996, the first Golden Krust franchise opened in Brooklyn.
Since the business’s establishment, Golden Krust has celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019 and has had restaurants expanded into Canada in 2018. The company also introduced its signature Golden Truck that hands out free patty samples in 2016, expanded into the retail market in 2011 with boxed patties for sale, introduced non-GMO patties in 2019 and founded National Jamaican Patty Day in 2015 which is held on the first Saturday in August.
Lowell Hawthorne has been credited with the founding of Golden Krust, and during his time he opened more than 100 locations, wrote a memoir and founded the Mavis & Ephraim Hawthorne Golden Krust Foundation. In 2017, Hawthorne passed away.
The Golden Krust storefront in the Town of Newburgh is owned by Unique Gray, who had hosted the previous night a soft opening for friends and family. Owners and other staff members of the surrounding businesses in the plaza came out and enjoyed rice, oxtail, chicken and other food with a cold drink to celebrate. The storefront location in the plaza was said to have once been another food establishment that closed. While this will be the first location in Newburgh, Golden Krust does have an established storefront in Poughkeepsie.
On opening day, Gray opened the doors at 7 a.m. and shared that she was nervous in the beginning but at around 10 a.m. or so, the lines started to pick up and orders kept coming. Several hours in, Gray was grateful for the customers and support that has come about from their opening. Gray also thanked and credited the town board for their support and sharing Golden Krust’s information to their social media.
“We [Golden Krust] do plan on bringing great, great food, good tasting food and also great personality. My end goal is to make sure anyone that walked in here leaves happy,” Gray said. “When you come here, I want you to say the food tastes really great but I want you to also be happy and feel welcomed.”
Golden Krust is located at 50 Route 17K Suite 114 in the Target Plaza. The restaurant’s hours are from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. They can be contacted at (845) 787-4527.