diff --git a/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.test.ts b/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.test.ts
index 5facc06a..605a2aa1 100644
--- a/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.test.ts
+++ b/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.test.ts
@@ -159,4 +159,22 @@ describe('ConfigManager', () => {
     expect(product3?.name).toEqual('Hawtio React')
     expect(product3?.value).toEqual('1.0.0')
   })
+
+  test('adds product info to empty config', async () => {
+    // response for fetching hawtconfig.json
+    fetchMock.mockResponse(JSON.stringify({}))
+
+    configManager.addProductInfo('Hawtio React', '1.0.0')
+    const config = await configManager.getHawtconfig()
+    expect(config.about).not.toBeUndefined()
+    expect(config.about?.productInfo).toHaveLength(1)
+    expect(config.about?.title).toBeUndefined()
+    expect(config.about?.description).toBeUndefined()
+    expect(config.about?.imgSrc).toBeUndefined()
+    expect(config.about?.copyright).toBeUndefined()
+
+    const product = config.about?.productInfo?.[0]
+    expect(product?.name).toEqual('Hawtio React')
+    expect(product?.value).toEqual('1.0.0')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.ts b/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.ts
index bfa7beea..ca95982c 100644
--- a/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.ts
+++ b/packages/hawtio/src/core/config-manager.ts
@@ -215,8 +215,14 @@ class ConfigManager {
   }
 
   async addProductInfo(name: string, value: string) {
-    const { about } = await this.getHawtconfig()
-    about?.productInfo?.push({ name, value })
+    const config = await this.getHawtconfig()
+    if (!config.about) {
+      config.about = {}
+    }
+    if (!config.about.productInfo) {
+      config.about.productInfo = []
+    }
+    config.about.productInfo.push({ name, value })
   }
 }