About Us 

how it all began...

The Bermuda Jam Factory is a limited liability company founded by Bermudians, Joel McDonell and Grant Kennedy. The original hot pepper jam recipe was "stumbled" onto by Grant while making  his own personal supply of hot hot stuff. Grant often shared his creation with friends and family and gave it away as gifts. 

Fellow teacher, Joel, quickly became a hot pepper jam enthusiast. Joel and Grant became good friends with many common interests and eerie personality similarities. In Joel, Grant found a business partner with a culinary background who was willing to go the distance with him. Joel experimented with batch recipes and an array of heats that now comprises the Bermuda Jam Factory's first line of spicy sweet tastes. 

The Bermuda Jam Factory was officially launched with the onset of the Harbour Nights season in May 2004. The friendship has turned into a exciting partnership of ideas and creativity, striving to go where no jam has gone before

our team

Both Grant and Joel typically cook and sell the products together with each bringing a diverse background to the process. While Joel and Grant are the two Managing Partners of the venture, they have been lucky enough to attain some help along the way. 

Joel McDonell - Managing Partner
Joel’s background is in Food Service operations.  He graduated with a BCom specializing in Hotel and Food Administration from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. During the 5-year program, Joel took part in a variety of work and study exchanges spanning Banff Canada, Cannes France, and Bermuda.  Joel’s culinary interests took him to South East Asia soon after graduation where he studied Thai cooking and taught music in Thailand. Upon returning to Bermuda, Joel settled on teaching a cookery class at a local high school where he met Grant.

Grant Kennedy - Managing Partner
Grant is currently a social studies teacher with a BA in history from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Grant has also gained extensive experience in Bermuda's hotel and hospitality industry. Grant enjoys travelling and after a two-year stint in Taiwan as an ESL teacher, he toured Asia, visiting many lands of spice. Grant is also a Scottish Football enthusiast and Celtic fan.

Phil Morrison - Graphic Designer
As a free lance graphic designer, Phil transformed the original ideas first offered by the management team into concrete visuals, resulting in a solid image and a complete set of labels and logos.

Honourable Mentions
The following people have been instrumental in supporting the business:

Wendy McDonell                               
Dougal McDonell                             
Alan Kennedy                                   
Eliza Kennedy                                  
Holly O'Leary                                    
Lucinda Bean                                   
Harry Campbell                                
Dale Butler                                      
Siani Colley-Nester                                              
Matthew Nester  
Dave Cockshaw
Judd Van Slyck
Karen Van Slyck
Donna Lee
Noel Stevens 
Elonda Stevens 
John Nicol
Scott Doughty
Janine Doughty