Export dream realised for Paris Ruby Gourmet Cakes

KINGSTON, JAMAICA; February 19, 2025:  In November 2024, Zelecia Smith sent her first monumental package — 170 Paris Ruby Gourmet fruitcakes to Florida. 

Paris Ruby Gourmet, Smith’s micro, home-based operation, has become an international export success story. Her inaugural shipment has placed her cakes on the shelves of Broward Meat and Fish Company in Margate, Florida, marking the culmination of a strategic business approach that began in 2019. 

Smith was among three winners of the MSME Business Pitch Competition, held as a part of the Ministry of Industry Investment and Commerce’s (MIIC) Montego Bay MSME Business Roadshow in October 2023. And her export achievement a year later is inextricably linked to her win. 

“Since winning the competition, we standardised our products and we were also able to plunge part of the funds into purchasing more raw materials to boost our production, which also allowed us to expand into more retails stores,” Smith shared. “We’ve received nominations for our entrepreneurial journey and contribution to the business community from prominent corporations.” 

The Montego Bay-based Paris Ruby Gourmet has a locally based distribution of fruitcakes, cheesecakes, bread puddings and banana bread at S Foods in New Kingston, Grand Depot Limited in Montego Bay and the Norman Manley and Donald Sangster international airports. 

Looking back, Smith said the pitch experience shaped and fuelled her passion even more for business and entrepreneurship. 

“The increased visibility from the [pitch] competition, with our new product now 98 per cent ready to be launched in 2025, the opportunities will be endless,” she revealed. “With all our successes gained from 2023-2024, we also encountered unexpected challenges that have shaped our focus for 2025 new approaches.” 

She lauded the Ministry’s role in her success and encouraged other entrepreneurs to utilise MIIC and its agencies’ resources. 

“It’s great that we are able tap into the support system of MIIC to help guide us forward. We are encouraging other small businesses owners to take advantage of this grant funding. Qualify yourselves and compete to gain your spot with these opportunities for your business growth. I have learned that grant funding helps to unlock new doors of opportunities for your business.” 

MIIC MSME Business Roadshow, presented in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), made the first of three stops in phase two of the project at the Twickenham Park Church of the Open Bible in Spanish Town on January 16, 2025. The last stop, in this second phase of the Roadshow, will be at St. Elizabeth Technical High School, Santa Cruz, on Thursday, March 6.    

To learn more about the MSME Business Roadshow series, visit roadshow.miic.gov.jm. 

Source: MIIC