You can buy Honey Baked Ham at a HoneyBaked store, through the company’s website for shipping or pickup, and in some markets as a branded item listed by Kroger. Honey Baked Ham is a fully cooked, spiral sliced, smoked bone-in pork roast with a crunchy glaze of sugar and spice, made by The Honey Baked Ham Company, a family-owned chain that started in Detroit in 1957 and is now headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia. If you only want the style rather than the brand, nearly every supermarket and warehouse club sells a glazed spiral half for less.
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The company is still independent and still growing. A January 2026 update from the International Franchise Association put it at more than 400 locations, with 12 store openings in 2025 and new 2026 stores signed for California, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. Its founder, Harry J. Hoenselaar, patented the spiral-slicing machine behind the product; today the same cut style shows up on nearly every grocery label.
Branded HoneyBaked or a Supermarket Glazed Half?
Decide this first, because it picks the store for you. The name does double duty: it is a trademark, and it is also how shoppers describe any sweet, glazed, pre-sliced roast at a meat counter. Both purchases are legitimate. They are not the same purchase.
| What differs | The branded version | Supermarket equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Label wording | Trademarked brand name | “Spiral sliced,” “honey glazed,” “hickory smoked” |
| Sweet crust | Set on before you pick it up | Usually a glaze packet you apply |
| Where sold | Company stores, its website, some Kroger listings | Nearly every grocer and club |
| Typical brands | Honey Baked Ham Co. | Kirkland Signature, Member’s Mark, Kroger, Private Selection, H-E-B |
| Cost per pound | Premium tier | Lower, lowest on holiday promotions |
If the occasion is a holiday centerpiece, a gift, or a host who wants nothing to cook, the brand earns its premium. If it is a weeknight dinner or a crowd that will turn it into a ham sandwich by Sunday, a store-label half does the same job. Glaze, for the record, is the caramelized coating of sugar and spices; on the branded product it is already hardened, while a supermarket version leaves you to brush it on while warming.
Where to Buy Honey Baked Ham in Person
Three physical channels carry a glazed sliced roast, and only one stocks the branded lineup in full.
HoneyBaked Stores
A HoneyBaked store is the only place with everything: quarter, half, and whole bone-in sizes, boneless options, turkey breast, heat-and-serve sides, desserts, and sandwiches, plus newer items such as Take & Bake Sliders. Stores are open year-round, not only at holidays, and the chain mixes company-owned and franchised locations. Use the store locator to check hours near you, and ask about order-ahead pickup before Easter or Christmas.
Supermarket Meat Counters
Kroger has listed Honey Baked Ham Co. glazed halves and quarters on its website for some markets. Check the listing for your store, since stocking varies by ZIP code and season. Beside it you will usually find Kroger’s own Spiral Sliced Honey Ham Half (8 to 10 pounds, glaze packet included) and the Private Selection honey half. Other chains run their own labels, such as H-E-B’s hickory smoked bone-in half and Giant’s store-brand honey half, and national names like Hormel Cure 81 cover the boneless slot.
Warehouse Clubs
Costco sells a Kirkland Signature sliced roast sold by weight, and Sam’s Club carries a Member’s Mark boneless double-glazed version. Both usually land at the lowest cost per pound of any channel, though you need a membership. Selection is thin and sizes run big, so measure a refrigerator shelf first. The guide to what to buy at Costco explains how club meat pricing works.
Ordering Online: What Actually Shows Up at the Door
Shipping works, but the box does not arrive the way a store pickup does, and knowing that in advance prevents most of the panicked customer service calls.
Shipping From the Company
Order online through the company’s e-commerce site, which now redirects to honeybaked.com, and pick an arrive-by date at checkout. According to its shipping FAQ, each item is frozen, boxed in temperature-control packaging with ice packs, and sent so it lands in about two business days. Expect it to arrive frozen to partially thawed, with some condensation; the company says the contents should be under 40°F when you open the box. Move it to the refrigerator right away. A bone-in half needs roughly 24 to 36 hours to thaw there, so a box arriving the morning of a dinner is already late.
Store pickup avoids the shipping charge and the thaw clock entirely. If the store is within driving distance, pickup is the better deal.
Grocery Delivery and Amazon
Kroger delivery, Instacart, and Walmart’s grocery service bring a store-label glazed half to the door, often the same day, which makes them the practical pick when you order online two days before a meal. Amazon search results mix gift boxes, shelf-stable products, and other brands, so check the seller and the cold-chain shipping method before ordering anything perishable. Browse the marketplace selection to compare gift boxes and shelf-stable alternatives.
How Much to Buy: Sizes and Pound per Person
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the federal agency that regulates meat safety, estimates 1/3 to 1/2 pound of meat per serving for bone-in and 1/4 to 1/3 pound per serving for boneless. Use the top of each range for a main course with few sides, and the bottom when the table is crowded with dishes.
| Branded size | Who it suits | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter | Serves about 4 to 6 | Same crust, smallest commitment |
| Half | Most family dinners | Five sizes, roughly 6 to 10 pounds |
| Whole | Serves up to 36 | Needs a full fridge shelf |
| Boneless | Even slices, easy portions | No bone weight to pay for |
Bone-in holds moisture better and gives you a bone for soup; boneless portions evenly and stores flatter. A spiral cut is one continuous slice around the bone, done before you buy, so serving means lifting pieces off rather than carving. The trade-off is surface area: once opened, a pre-sliced roast dries out faster than an uncut one, which matters if you plan to stretch leftovers across a week.
Holiday Timing and the Problems Buyers Report
The costliest mistake is treating a holiday purchase like a weeknight one. Demand spikes around Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, stores take reservations, and the morning pickup windows fill first.
- Order days in advance, ideally weeks. Check your own location’s cutoff instead of assuming last year’s date, and get the pickup time in writing.
- Do not assume the brand never reaches supermarkets. Kroger listings exist; the full lineup, though, stays at company stores.
- Do not pay brand prices for an ordinary night. A store-label half feeds the same table for less.
- Do not reheat the entire roast hot and fast. High oven heat drives moisture out of the slices and melts the crust off.
Published coverage circles the same two issues: price and lines. AOL ran a reviewer’s test of one served fresh, reheated, and the next day under the headline question of whether it is worth it, and its December 2025 buying guide notes that holiday lines at stores can be long. The practical fix for both is the same: order ahead, and confirm the pickup time in writing.
Picks by Occasion
These are grouped by job rather than ranked. Prices move with weight, season, and location, so check the current listing before you buy.
Best overall: the branded bone-in half. The signature item, pre-sliced with the crust already set and no cooking required. Buy from the company or a stocking grocer, not a reseller. Compare gift options on Amazon
Best for a crowd: the whole size. Roughly double the half and priced to match, serving up to 36. Measure the shelf first. Compare sizes on Amazon
Best value: the branded quarter. The same crust at a size suited to four to six people, and no shipping charge if a nearby grocer carries it. See the Kroger listing
Best budget: a warehouse club or store label. Kirkland Signature and Member’s Mark cost the least per pound, glaze packet included; Hormel Cure 81 is a common boneless benchmark at grocers. Compare boneless options on Amazon
Best non-pork centerpiece: smoked turkey breast. The company sells one and so does every grocer, an easy pairing when guests skip pork. The guide to ordering cooked turkey for Thanksgiving covers order timing, and if you cook from raw, brine bags are the cheap upgrade that changes the result.
Do it yourself: a copycat crust. A copycat honey baked ham recipe starts with a plain sliced half from any grocer. Make the glaze from sugar, honey, and warm spices such as ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger, and allspice, then broil it or use a kitchen torch until the sugar sets crispy. It gets close; it will not match the factory crust exactly.
Storing, Thawing, and Serving It Safely
Every product here is fully cooked and ready to serve, so the job is storage and gentle warming, not cooking. FSIS notes that spiral-cut cooked hams are safe to eat cold, and the brand’s own serving advice treats warming as optional.
- Refrigerate on arrival. Thaw in the refrigerator, never on the counter. This keeps it below 40°F, the line FSIS uses for safe cold storage.
- Serve cold or near room temperature. Take it out a short while before serving, and return what is left to the fridge within two hours.
- If you warm it, go low. FSIS suggests covering a sliced roast with heavy aluminum foil and heating at 325°F for about 10 minutes per pound. Plant-packaged cooked ham should reach 140°F on a food thermometer; leftovers, or anything repackaged outside the plant, should reach 165°F. Warming individual slices beats heating the whole piece.
- Plan leftovers around the label. FSIS lists 3 to 5 days in the refrigerator and 1 to 2 months frozen for pre-sliced product and leftovers. The company’s FAQ says you can freeze it on arrival and keep quality for up to 6 weeks. When the two differ, follow the shorter window and the use-by date on your own label. Read the federal guidance.
Start by counting guests and multiplying by the FSIS serving range, then decide whether the brand matters for this meal. If it does, reserve your honey baked ham at a company store, on its website, or at a Kroger that lists it, and lock in a pickup time weeks ahead of the holiday. If it does not, buy a club or store-label half and spend the difference on sides. For more specialty food shopping, the guides to buying crawfish and finding dragon fruit work the same way.
Honey Baked Ham Questions, Answered
Do grocery stores sell the Honey Baked Ham brand?
Some do. Kroger has listed Honey Baked Ham Co. halves and quarters for certain markets, so check the listing for your store. No supermarket carries the full lineup, so boneless sizes, turkey breast, sides, and desserts still mean a trip to a company store or its website.
Is it fully cooked, and is it smoked?
Yes to both. It is a smoked, fully cooked roast with the glaze already applied, so it can be served straight from the refrigerator. Warming is optional, and if you do it, low heat and individual slices keep it moist.
Does it arrive frozen when shipped?
It ships frozen and usually arrives frozen to partially thawed, packed with ice packs. Some thawing and condensation are expected. Refrigerate it immediately and allow about 24 to 36 hours for a bone-in half to thaw fully.
How many days in advance should I order for a holiday?
Order weeks ahead rather than days. Company stores open holiday ordering well before Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and morning pickup slots go first. Shipped orders need extra lead time for the two-day transit and the fridge thaw.
How long does it keep, and can I freeze it?
FSIS gives sliced product and leftovers 3 to 5 days refrigerated and 1 to 2 months frozen. The company says you can freeze a shipped item on arrival and keep quality for up to 6 weeks. Wrap what remains tightly and chill it within two hours of serving.