THE MONTHLY GLEANER | FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 22, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | MEMORIAM 21 Lester Hinds/Gleaner Writer LOOKING TO have the Devon House ice cream experience but unable to get to Jamaica? Well Ozzie’s Ice Cream and Things is looking to replicate this experience in Mount Vernon and Long Island in New York, USA, and is inviting persons to come share in the special offerings. The store boasts over 38 flavours of ice cream and six flavours of Italian sorbet and gelato. Ice cream flavours include mango, strawberry, grapenut, tropical rum nut, coconut, Irish moss and soursop. According to owner, Hopeton Osbourne, Ozzie’s Ice Cream andThings carries the best taste of Jamaica tropical ice cream in all Westchester and Long Island. He says the idea for the store was simply a craving for a favourite childhood comfort food. “The idea for Ozzie’s ice cream was born from my love of ice cream growing up in De laVega City, Spanish Town in Jamaica. There was an ice cream cake factory nearby and every day I would go there to get the cuttings (left over) from shaping of the ice cream cakes during the packaging process. Then, as I got older, I would visit Devon House to enjoy the best ice cream in the country. I wanted to bring Cold Stone Ice Cream to Mount Vernon but, because of the high franchise fee, we decided to build our brand from the bottom up. Our flavours and taste are comparable to Devon House, which we don’t carry, but our tropical flavours are loved just the same.” He said Osbourne was born in SpanishTown, St Catherine and grew up in the area attending Spanish Town Primary and later St Catherine High School. On leaving school, Osbourne, the fourth of six children, worked with Precision Arts in Swallowfield and later with Broadway Garment Company and Papine Wholesale. In 1993, he migrated to the United States and settled in Mount Vernon, living with his mother Fay Rita Duncan and his siblings. Casting around to find work, Osbourne worked fixing cars before landing a job with PCF, a newspaper delivery company which was to set him on his new career path. It was while delivering newspapers for PCF, that Osbourne got the idea to start his own distribution company. This he did and registered a distribution company in Allentown, Pennsylvania. But, even as he distributed newspapers, he wanted to branch out into other areas of business. His love of the dairy treat and pleasant memories of visiting Road Runner ice cream shops in Jamaica led him to look at the ice cream business, with a view to replicating the Devon House Ice Cream experience. In 2018, he opened his first Ozzie’s and Things store on West First Street in Mount Vernon. To make it a one-stop experience, Osbourne introduced burgers, Jamaican patties, a wide range of pastry, chicken and waffles, chicken wings, French toast, slice and sticks, as well as other easy to make carry-out items. Jamaican cuisine is not served at the Mount Vernon store. Osbourne says the success of the Mount Vernon location led him to open another store in 308 Nassau Road in Roosevelt, Long Island, in 2021. The Long Island store also caters Jamaican cuisine, including jerked pork, jerked chicken, seafood platters, among other popular dishes. “We are a locally owned and family operated business and you can feel the warmth of the island when you visit our stores,” he told The Gleaner. Besides bringing the ice cream taste of Jamaica to Westchester and Long Island, Ozzie’s andThings also practises good corporate citizenship, hosting back to school drives for children in Mount Vernon and a gospel concert at the Mount Vernon High School. “Our success is all due to our customers. So when they visit our stores they can be assured of getting the personal touch as well as the island atmosphere,” he told The Gleaner. Lester Hinds/Gleaner Writer A NEW line of beauty care products geared to satisfy the needs of women of colour has been launched by Jamaican Lorna Hawthorne and is now available online and in select stores on a limited basis. Hawthorne, widow of Lowell Hawthorne, the late founder of the Golden Krust chain of stores spread across the United States, said that she was moved to develop the new line of products because of her own difficulty in locating suitable items. “We want to see a world where, everyday, hard-working women have access to healthy, quality beauty products that are affordable,” Hawthorne said. Hawthorne, along with her children, birthed the LLHOMD Beauty Care collection in her kitchen. She explained that the products are made up of natural ingredients like pomegranate, prickly pear, aloe, avocado, lavender, and rich antioxidants that provide long-lasting, anti-aging benefits to improve both hair and skin over time. The brand’s heart is woven into its core - each letter of LLHOMD represents a family member’s name and reflects family values: Lowell, Lorna, Haywood, Omar, Monique and Daren - Love Yourself, Live Your Best Life With Laughter, Create Your Own Happiness, Be Optimistic, Be Motivated, and Determination Will Get You Where You Want To Be! This, according to the mission statement posted on the company’s website. Acco rd i ng to Hawthorne, however, as a family-owned bl ack bus i nes s , LLHOMD has one goal, that is ‘to provide great quality beauty, body, hair and skincare products to women of colour at affordable prices’. “Our line of lotion for black skin appropriately provides women of colour with the nourishment their skin needs without the unnecessary additives and synthetics of other common lotions. We have a variety of options of butters and lotions for dark skin tones that cater to all skin types ; sensitive skin, oily skin, and more. Orders may be placed online through the company’s website and will soon be available in some retail outlets such as Macy’s, Marshall’s, andWalmart.com. Hawthorne was born in Manchester, Jamaica and attended Manchester High School. She migrated to the United States in 1981. She would meet Lowell Hawthorne, who she married, and the union produced three children. She holds a postgraduate degree in human resources management from Mercy College. She, along with other family members, pooled their resources to establish Golden Krust Bakery, which started with one store on East Gun Hill Road in the Bronx. Today, Golden Krust has over 100 stores spread across several states in the United States. The company’s worth is estimated at over $100 million. She remained an integral part of the company’s management up to the time of her husband’s death. Lorna Hawthorne launches beauty care product line Lorna Hawthorne CONTRIBUTED Ozzie’s Ice Cream ADVERTORIAL Bringing the Devon House experience to the Bronx and Long Island Owner Hopeton Osbourne inside the store at Roosevelt, NY. Hopeton Osbourne CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Ozzie’s Ice Cream and Things, Mount Vernon.
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