JAMPRO takes Brand Jamaica to major US Retailers
Kingston, Jamaica – Jamaican sauce manufacturer Pedro Plains, has much to celebrate this year as the company’s products are available in two of the United States’ major retailers, Winn Dixie and Krogers.
The export only company, which sells products to the US, Canada and Europe, has been exporting into their seventh year, and is now present in many states.
The company began its North American export journey with Jamaica’s trade promotion agency JAMPRO in 2010, where it displayed its products at the Fancy Food Show in New York City.
JAMPRO subsequently took the company to the Americas Food & Beverage Show in Miami, where one of its sauces was recognized with a show award.
According to Paul Lewis, partner in BnRs Holdings, Pedro Plains had immediate success and began to grow significantly because of the product’s unique flavour and being authentically Jamaican.
“We have grown over the past six years in our various markets,” he said. “Our buyers are excited about our brand and the Jamaican brand by extension. They see our products as exotic and different, and so we continue to push the envelope and forge into new sub-markets”, says Paul Lewis.
The company continued to participate in JAMPRO trade missions to the UK, France, Latin America and the USA, gaining product exposure, market knowledge as well as business networking opportunities.
Mr. Lewis noted that Pedro Plains has now achieved major success and is looking towards expanding its reach to more markets internationally. The company’s strategy is to target specific markets and to continue to tell the Jamaican story through their products, “We continue to drill down into markets to see where we can make strides with our product line, so the sky is really the limit and the good news – there is always a place for all things Jamaican around the world. People gravitate towards Jamaica, and we enjoy exposing them to “eat what we live” and enjoy “a little taste of home,” Lewis explained.
As the Agency seeks to provide more support for Jamaica’s exporters, JAMPRO has reinvigorated its export promotion strategy and is exploring more emerging markets, especially in Latin America.
With regard to sauces, such as those manufactured by Pedro Plains, the Agency acknowledges the products as one of Jamaica’s largest food exports with over 1,252,681 Euros in sales reported by Caribbean Export in 2013.
There are significant challenges however, as sauces labeled as Jamaican, but not manufactured locally, continue to flood international markets.
Vice President of Export and Market Development at JAMPRO, Robert Scott, mentioned that JAMPRO wanted to correct the issue by getting more Jamaican sauces into the international market, and that the Agency was keen to capitalize on the demand for Jamaican foods.
“From our work in many of these international markets on the ground, it’s clear that Jamaican sauces and other food products are in demand. What we need to do is help exporters to overcome the various challenges regarding food safety laws, capacity building and funding support to get more of our real Jamaican products into major retailers internationally”.
Scott added that Pedro Plains’ success demonstrates the value of consistent engagement with the markets of focus, and that JAMPRO encourages other companies to employ a similar strategy, “Through our work with clients like Pedro Plains, we see that genuine Jamaican sauces do well in major markets. What we will be doing now, is ensuring that our exporters have the information and skills needed to make sure that their products arrive in those markets and make it to the shelves,” he further explained.
