{"type":"root","children":[{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"Edward Ashton Amory MBE started baking commercially in 1942 and opened his own bakery on 17 February 1949 with five pounds of flour. The bakery, then called American Bakery, was Basseterre's daily bread. Ashton was named one of the first recipients of the National Independence Award in 1983 and made an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1989."}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"After Ashton's passing in 1992, his sons Ernest and the late Reginald Amory ran the business together until Reggie's death in 2017. Ernest, now Chairman of Amory Enterprises and an MBE himself, oversaw the renaming of American Bakery to Amory Bakery in December 2019 in his father's honour. Charles Amory, Ernest's son, trained as a baker in Switzerland and is the third generation, now leading the family enterprise. The Frigate Bay location at Atlantic View Plaza opened in July 2025 alongside the original Victoria Road shop and the Liverpool Road outlet."}]},{"type":"paragraph","children":[{"type":"text","value":"Amory's reputation outgrew the bakery a long time ago. Free Bread Day during the pandemic put 61,000 loaves into Kittitian and Nevisian hands. Twelve thousand sandwiches reached Nevis. The Saturday raisin roll is a Basseterre institution, queued for before sunrise."}]}]}