LOCAL seafood distributor Rainforest will be adding sausage and ready-to-eat soup to its line of seafood products. The company, which recently inked a deal with fast-food restaurant Burger King for the supply of beef burgers, is currently constructing an additional smokehouse and a facility that produces ready-to-eat products at its Kingston plant to start distribution of the products by the end of the year.

Chief executive officer of Rainforest Seafoods Brian Jardim said the company will be able to supply smoked sausages, turkey neck, marlin and many more options once the facility is in place. “We are building rooms for the new smokehouse, for the soup kettles and all of the  soup equipment,” Jardim told the ‘in an interview last Thursday. “Like what you get at Fishpot; fish teas, conch soup, chowders, pepper shrimp and red peas soup, we are finding that people are demanding it in packages so they can microwave or boil it.”

He added that the Rainforest-branded ready-toeat and ready-to-cook soups will be distributed in supermarkets and gas stations islandwide, while the sausages will be found in supermarkets and the company’s retail outlets. Rainforest Seafoods is in expansion mode.

Last year, the company started distribution of 15 Rainforest ready-to-eat and ready-tocook products and has also been producing seafood seasonings for the market. Additionally, Rainforest will be exporting live Jamaican lobsters to Asian markets including China, Japan and South Korea starting in July.

“It’s an exciting time for us. It took us three years to build this facility and we love the opportunities to expand our operations,” Jardim stated. “We also have a big solar project being installed now.

It’s half of a megawatt and it is the largest in Kingston so far.” The solar project, he said, should reduce the company’s $1 million monthly electricity bill by 25 per cent, offsetting the expansion and fleet renewal costs. Rainforest distributes over 400 types of fish, shellfish and other varieties of seafood from suppliers and processors in both fresh and frozen forms.

The company recently launched its first mobile restaurant, bringing its total restaurants to three, and supplies the domestic market as well as 11 countries across the Caribbean, including two French islands.

“The mobile Fish Pot did its first engagement at (Jamaica) Jazz and Blues and I would love to see us do more of these mobiles for schools and church outings,” Jardim told the Business Observer.

The seafood company also began exporting its sweet cassava bammy into Eastern Caribbean countries where every shipment it has made included a few containers of bammy to test the market, according to the CEO.

“It’s catchy; just as how people learn about Jamaican patty, they are learning about the Jamaican bammy. Eating Jamaican is hip in the Caribbean and in North America and as many of these opportunities as we can get to customise our products with a Jamaican accent we will take it,” he said.

Jardim added that the company will be displaying its seafood products at the International Boston Seafood show in March. The three-day event is North America’s largest seafood exposition where thousands of buyers and suppliers from around the world meet, network and conduct business.

“We have been going to it as a buyer for 15 years and we’ve walked the hall for two days, found new opportunities and learnt about products. For the first time ever for a Caribbean company we have our own booth this year,” he stated.