Carolina Foods Incorporated is a private confectionery corporation and bakery headquartered in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Founded in 1934, it is known for its Duchess brand

honey bun A honey bun is a fried yeast pastry that contains honey and a swirl of cinnamon in the dough and is glazed with icing. Unlike most sweet rolls, which are generally the product of bakeries, honey buns are common convenience store and vending mach ...

s and doughnuts and has been featured on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

History

Vernon Scarborough founded Carolina Foods in Charlotte in 1934 as a sandwich company that expanded after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Operating out of his basement, Scarborough made lunches for workers at local

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

and furniture factories. Gradually, he introduced

s as complementary product. Following the war, the company expanded to its first location on South Boulevard in South Charlotte, where it expanded its

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlappi ...

offerings to

doughnut A doughnut or donut () is a type of food made from leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and fra ...

s and pies, in addition to the growing popularity of its honey buns. Carolina Foods has expanded into a 100,000 square foot plant. It employs 425 people and produces 1 million honey buns per day, in addition to its other products, which include the Duchess brand doughnuts and Dunkin Sticks. It was the top "snack food" brand in Puerto Rico in 2014 according to the company's president. In an interview, the current president claimed that revenues doubled between 2009 and 2014. At the same time, increasing sugar prices hurt the company's profitability.

Nutrition

Carolina Foods acknowledged shifting consumer preferences toward healthier snacks in 2014. The

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and fina ...

(CFO) stated that Carolina Foods would not be able to change product offerings to accommodate this shift without also expanding the current production facility to produce them.

Leadership

Carolina Foods is a third-generation family-owned business. The president is Paul Scarborough. His daughter Katie Scarborough is the CFO. Kent Byrom is the General Manager.

Awards and recognition

In 2004 and 2009, Carolina Foods' products were featured on the

series ''

Unwrapped ''Unwrapped'', also known as ''Unwrapped with Marc Summers'', is an American television program on Food Network that reveals the origins of sponsored foods. It first aired in June 2001 and is hosted by Marc Summers. The show leads viewers on to ...

''. In 2015, ''

Unwrapped 2.0 ''Unwrapped 2.0'' is an American food-themed television series that aired on Cooking Channel. It is presented by actor Alfonso Ribeiro; and it is a revival of the 2001-2011 series ''Unwrapped'', which was hosted by Marc Summers. The series aire ...

'' featured Carolina Foods' honey buns on its premiere episode.

References

{{reflist , 30em

External links

Carolina Foods, Inc.
Food and drink companies based in North Carolina Manufacturing companies based in North Carolina Companies based in Charlotte, North Carolina 1934 establishments in North Carolina