JAMAICA Broilers Group (JBG) and Mother’s, honourees at last week’s Jamaica Observer Food Awards, are both in expansion mode. Winners of the Lifetime Achievement and Chairman’s awards, respectively, at the prestigious event, both firms have served Jamaica for a combined 83 years and show no signs of slowing after years of stellar business accomplishments.

Broilers CEO Christopher Levy told Sunday Finance that the company will be launching a selection of ready-to-use, convenient foods this year, specifically for the busy household. “One of the areas we are looking at is developing more convenient foods so that there is the efficiency of use of the products and an increase in the convenience for the household and the people who use our food,” Levy said.

“The big challenge is keeping the products as economical as possible,” he added.

The company has recently been hit by a series of cost increases as inputs in its production process, corn, soya and oil have all seen dramatic price swings this year. Levy said the Group will continue to develop new products that meet the needs of its customers, while keeping a focus on the reduction in overall cost of operations.

He said the more convenient, easy-to-use products are now in development and market-testing phases and will be launched later this year.

Carlysle Hudson, managing director of ‘the great Jamaican patty company’ Mother’s, told Sunday Finance that his company will this year continue its move towards expanding its branch network and product line. In 2010, Mother’s started two new divisions, opened four new locations, including the Devon House Bakery at Devon House in Kingston, and added new items to its menus. Hudson said the expansion created 100 new jobs, bringing its staff complement to 750.

“Over the next 12 months we will continue to identify new restaurant locations and expand the School Canteen Division with the opening of new cafeteria locations,” Hudson said. “We will also expand our bakery operations division by adding new items to that menu and extend our reach to consumers by adding to our retail bakery sales with a wholesale offering. All these will further contribute to our success as a home-grown, multibillion-dollar Jamaican company,” he added.

Mother’s boasts that its success comes from a combination of a sound management structure, a commitment to total customer satisfaction, dynamic and innovative marketing and a firm belief that employees are its greatest assets. The ISO 9001:2008-certified company has become well-known to the Jamaican public for its highly varied menu, including its flagship product line, freshly baked, delicious patties, golden fried chicken, hamburgers, jerk chicken, hot dogs and 15 ice cream flavours.

Mother’s locations across the island include Portmore, Spanish Town, Linstead, Ocho Rios, May Pen, Mandeville, Santa Cruz, and Morant Bay.

What would become JBG, a diversified agricultural production firm, started in 1958 as a producer of broiler meat. JBG has since then undertaken backward and forward linkages to support its agricultural operations, including veterinary and nutritional services, the wholesale and retail of a range of farm products and the premixing of feed ingredients and concentrate, and now boasts the region’s largest poultry operation. The Group includes JB Ethanol, Best Dressed Chicken, Best Dressed Fish, Content Beef, Hi-Pro Feeds and Hi-Pro Ace Supercentre. JBG has been a publicly-listed entity since 1992 and is one of the first companies in the world to offer an Employee Share Ownership plan. The Group employs over 1,500 workers and operates from seven locations islandwide, with two divisions located in the United States.

Levy said the Jamaica Observer Food Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award is an accomplishment in itself.

“We feel quite proud to be achieving the Lifetime Achievement Award and basically we want to thank the judges and those who made the decision to award us,” Levy said.

Hudson was equally humbled by the honour of the prestigious Chairman’s Award for Mother’s.

“It is an amazing honour and achievement for the entire Mother’s team to be recognised in this way. Coming just before we celebrate the 30th anniversary, this is a great birthday present for the company. The award is testimony to the hard work and dedication of our staff who are committed to offering Jamaican consumers great food, excellent service and the best value,” Hudson said.