Today we’d like to introduce you to Zamirah Towns.
Hi Zamirah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Honeyz Plates is deeply personal to me because the name and the vision behind the business are rooted in my grandmother, who was one of the biggest inspirations in my life. We shared a dream of one day opening a restaurant together. She believed in me and in the things I created, and that dream became something I carried with me long before Honeyz became what it is today.
I originally started with Honeyz Elegant Fruit, creating beautiful and unique fruit platters and catering experiences for family, friends, and eventually customers throughout Jacksonville. What started as something I loved doing quickly grew through word of mouth and social media.
When my grandmother passed away from cancer in January 2021, it was one of the most difficult moments of my life. But instead of allowing the dream we shared to end with her, her passing motivated me to build it into something bigger. I decided to expand Honeyz Elegant Fruit by adding a health-focused food store and specialty juice bar — creating the restaurant concept that we had always dreamed about having together.
I eventually took a leap of faith and stepped away from my career in mortgage processing to pursue Honeyz full-time. Since then, Honeyz has continued to evolve into a specialty food and juice business offering fresh juices, sandwiches, fruit bowls, salads, fruit platters, catering, and other fresh food options.
Our specialty juices are made with fresh ingredients and without added water or sugar. For me, that’s an important part of what Honeyz represents: giving people food and drinks that are fresh, flavorful, beautiful, and made with intention.
Along the way, we’ve been blessed to receive recognition from our Jacksonville community, including being voted Jax Best by Folio Weekly for both Health Food Store and Juice Bar, as well as receiving Restaurant Guru Awards in 2021 and 2022. We’ve also been featured by Jacksonville media and organizations throughout our journey.
But the awards and features are only part of the story. The most meaningful part is knowing that something that started as a dream shared with my grandmother is still alive today.
Every platter we create, every juice we make, and every customer we serve feels like another step toward completing the dream we started together. Honeyz isn’t just a business to me — it’s my grandmother’s legacy, my passion, and a reminder that even when life changes your plans, you can still find a way to honor the dream and Build the Towns/Carswell Legacy
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road. Honeyz has experienced some incredible highs, but we’ve also faced challenges that tested us personally and professionally.
COVID-19 was one of the biggest challenges our community experienced, and it had a tremendous impact on small businesses throughout Jacksonville. Businesses were forced to close or completely change the way they operated, families were dealing with uncertainty, and people were becoming more conscious of their health and wellness.
At the same time, I was still grieving the loss of my grandmother, who passed away from cancer in January 2021. I would honestly say that the challenges we faced during that period were about 50/50 — half came from navigating the effects of COVID and keeping a business alive during an unprecedented time, and the other half came from personally trying to process losing the person I had dreamed of building a restaurant with.
But neither one stopped us.
During COVID, Honeyz wanted to do more than simply survive. We focused heavily on our fresh-pressed juices and continued providing the community with fresh, nutrient-focused options at a time when people were looking for healthier choices for themselves and their families. Our juices are made fresh without added water or sugar, and we wanted to provide our community with quality options when health and wellness had become more important than ever.
As we continued showing up for Jacksonville, Honeyz began gaining recognition from city officials, community organizations, and different divisions within the city. Those relationships and the recognition we received helped create opportunities that contributed to the growth and success of our specialty juice bar.
Then, in 2023, we were forced to close our Downtown Jacksonville brick-and-mortar location.
That was another major setback. I was still carrying the grief of losing my grandmother while dealing with the realities of running a business through COVID and then facing the loss of our physical location. It was a lot personally and professionally.
But again, it didn’t stop us.
Instead of allowing the closure to end Honeyz, we found ways to continue serving the customers who had supported us. We maintained our catering business, continued fulfilling specialty food and juice orders, and even shipped juices to customers while we worked through the transition and searched for the right opportunity for our next brick-and-mortar location.
That period taught me something very important: a building doesn’t make a business — the people, the purpose, and the relationships do.
Our customers continued supporting Honeyz even when we didn’t have a storefront. That showed me that we had built something much bigger than one physical location. We had built a community around the brand.
There were absolutely moments when I was grieving, exhausted, and questioning whether I could keep going. But every time I thought about giving up, I remembered the dream my grandmother and I shared. I couldn’t let her passing be the end of that dream.
So I kept going.
COVID didn’t stop us. Grief didn’t stop us. Losing our Downtown location didn’t stop us.
Every challenge forced us to become more creative, more resilient, and more connected to the people we serve. Honeyz may have lost a physical location, but we never lost our purpose.
Today, we’re still growing, still serving our customers through catering, specialty juices, community events and other opportunities, and still working toward our next brick-and-mortar chapter.
For me, Honeyz represents perseverance. It’s proof that sometimes the dream doesn’t happen exactly the way you imagined it — but that doesn’t mean you stop building it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work is centered around food, creativity, wellness, and creating experiences that people remember. I am the founder and owner of Honeyz Plates, a specialty food and juice brand that began with my love for creating beautiful fruit displays and has grown into catering, specialty juices, fresh food, and community-focused events.
One of the things that truly set Honeyz apart was my approach to fruit artistry. I began creating watermelon sculptures and elegant fruit displays without using traditional carving patterns or stencils. Everything was designed by hand and created from my own imagination. What started as a creative outlet quickly became something people throughout Jacksonville began recognizing as our signature.
Our watermelon sculptures and elegant fruit displays became more than catering pieces — they became centerpieces and edible masterpieces. Customers would order them for birthdays, weddings, celebrations, corporate events, and special occasions because they wanted something people would remember.
That creativity also brought Honeyz opportunities to work with some of Jacksonville’s leading companies, organizations, and community institutions. We’ve had the privilege of creating specialty food displays, fruit art, catering, and experiences for organizations and names including Downtown Vision, Farah & Farah, the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, the Jacksonville Icemen, and many others throughout the city.
Being trusted by organizations like these has been incredibly meaningful because it showed me that the creativity I started with a simple fruit platter had grown into something businesses and institutions recognized as a professional specialty food experience.
As our offerings expanded into specialty juices, fresh foods, fruit bowls, salads, sandwiches, and other fresh options, Honeyz evolved beyond being viewed simply as a catering business. We became recognized as a specialty food store and specialty juice bar.
I consider myself both an entrepreneur and an artist because I don’t just prepare food — I create experiences. From the composition of a fruit display to the ingredients we pair together in our specialty juices, presentation and originality are extremely important to me. I want someone to see a Honeyz creation and immediately know that it is something they won’t find anywhere else.
Our specialty juices are another major part of our identity. We create fresh juices without added water or sugar, using combinations such as Watermelon Pineapple Rush, Zarias Pineapple Express, Mean Green, The Detoxifier, and Citrus Kick. The goal is to make healthier choices exciting, flavorful, and beautiful.
What I am most proud of is that all of this came from a dream I shared with my grandmother. We dreamed of having a restaurant together, and after she passed away from cancer in January 2021, I decided that her passing would not be the end of that dream. It became part of the motivation behind expanding Honeyz Elegant Fruit into the specialty food store and juice bar concept we have today.
I’m also proud that Honeyz continued to serve Jacksonville through difficult seasons. During COVID, we provided fresh-pressed juices and fresh food options to people who were looking for healthier choices. Even after we were forced to close our Downtown Jacksonville location in 2023, we continued serving our customers through catering, juice orders, shipping, and community events while working toward our next brick-and-mortar chapter.
Honeyz has also been recognized by our community, including being voted Jax Best by Folio Weekly for Health Food Store and Juice Bar and receiving Restaurant Guru Awards in 2021 and 2022.
But what truly sets Honeyz apart is that our work is personal. I turned a family dream into a creative business, and I have continued to evolve it without losing the heart behind it.
Honeyz is my creativity, my passion, my grandmother’s legacy, and my way of showing Jacksonville that food can be more than something you eat — it can be art, an experience, and a connection to community..
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
During the pandemic, I became very passionate about advocating for food access in our community. I pushed for Honeyz to become an EBT-accepting business because I wanted families to be able to use their benefits to access eligible fresh, cold foods from us during a time when so many people were struggling. Honeyz became the first food chain approved to accept EBT under this expansion, and I am extremely proud of that achievement. What made it even more meaningful was seeing that opportunity help open the door for other qualifying restaurants and food businesses selling eligible cold foods to participate as well. For me, that was bigger than Honeyz — it was about creating access for our community and helping other businesses serve their communities too.
Pricing:
- * Signature Nonprofit Fruit Arrangements: Starting at $30
- * Catering & Corporate Orders: Starting at $750
- Large Events & Custom Experiences: Starting at $2,500 * Custom Orders: Pricing varies based on size, design, guest count, ingredients, and level of customization. Custom quotes are available for weddings, corporate events, community events, celebrations, and special occasions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://honeyzplates.godaddysites.com/
- Facebook: Honey’z Plates official website
